The doctor/patient relationship is changing drastically every day as we involve New Media in more and larger aspects of our heath. We see it every day in ipods that track your steps per day and overall health, automated insulin pumps that regulate healthy dosages for those with diabetes, and tablets in doctors hands as they make their round. Google began to explore personal health records services recently in partnership with the Cleveland Clinic, but may have depended on users too much when it came to data entry, or so Dr. John Moore of MIT's New Media Medicine Group supposes.
"When we launched Google Health, our goal was to create a service that would give people access to their personal health and wellness information. We wanted to translate our successful consumer-centered approach from other domains to healthcare and have a real impact on the day-to-day health experiences of millions of our users.
Now, with a few years of experience, we’ve observed that Google Health is not having the broad impact that we hoped it would. There has been adoption among certain groups of users like tech-savvy patients and their caregivers, and more recently fitness and wellness enthusiasts. But we haven’t found a way to translate that limited usage into widespread adoption in the daily health routines of millions of people. "
Now, with a few years of experience, we’ve observed that Google Health is not having the broad impact that we hoped it would. There has been adoption among certain groups of users like tech-savvy patients and their caregivers, and more recently fitness and wellness enthusiasts. But we haven’t found a way to translate that limited usage into widespread adoption in the daily health routines of millions of people. "
A new venture from MIT has picked up where Google Health left off with a slightly different approach.
"CollaboRhythm is a platform that enables patients to be at the center of every interaction in their healthcare with the goal of encouraging them to be involved, reflective, and proactive so that they may become more self-efficacious. It includes relational agents that question and educate patients prior to visits and that help them manage chronic diseases. A collaborative workstation for the office allows for shared decision-making where the patient is actually encouraged to control the system. Data is stored in a patient-controlled health record, so that the patient has access to his or her information in any place at any time. Numerous medical devices for the home and office including glucometers, sphygmomanometers, pulse oximeters, and weight scales feed their data into the system. Finally, the whole system is designed for tele-collaboration. Care can be coordinated through cell phones, televisions, computers, as well as more novel devices like internet media displays."
One of the major concepts is for patients to take control of their health by documenting their health issues as they experience them and the doctors to update the patient's file after each visit. A more complete picture is possible when the doctors and patients collaborate on the file; the doctor on the patient's allergies and ..., the patient on their sleep and exercise patterns, family medical history and current prescriptions, thus giving a more complete view of the patient's health.
Sources:
NPR's The Takeaway - http://www.thetakeaway.org/2011/jul/06/future-medical-record-technology/
CollaboRhythm - http://www.media.mit.edu/research/groups/1465/collaborhythm
Grand Challenge Stories - http://www.grandchallengestories.org/23/
Google Health - http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2011/06/update-on-google-health-and-google.html
MIT's Lab is so fascinating. I think one of the most interesting aspects is that it is a relatively small group of scientists and researchers involved in what will probably amount to a drastic innovation in the way in which we "perform" healthcare!
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