Every
patient draws satisfaction and comfort on being extended good
personalized care. With technology permeating the healthcare space,
there is a strong feeling amongst many people that the degree of
personalized care is only going to improve in the future. Infact,
technological innovations are also expected to find progressive
solutions to the hurdles currently faced in managing and curing fatal
diseases. This is the consequence of the paradigm shift in the manner in
which people have started viewing the impact of technology on
healthcare. There is a high degree of willingness from their end to
become part of the solution to the world's healthcare problems with the
aid of all sorts of technologies – to the extent that they are now open
to virtual doctor visits and to the extensive use of remote medical
devices and health sensors. Basically, there seems to be no hesitation
whatsoever in embracing a form of healthcare which makes it possible for
them to access care outside the hospital premises, share their
information anonymously for better outcomes, receive care which is
highly personalized i.e. even take into account the patient’s genetic
details.
Given
the expectations which patients have, it has become imperative on the
part of providers and physicians to acknowledge them and subsequently
device ways to address them. Though the inhibitions on the part of
patients towards using personal health records and mobile apps for
managing their care is on the wane, physicians in turn can be reluctant
to accept electronic data from patients due to liability concerns. A
research was done in order understand the reasons for the apprehension
on the part of the physicians and the subsequent steps taken to address
them. The major concerns included timeliness of data availability,
adequacy of response, volume of data, accuracy and decision on who
should respond. Based on the findings, some steps have been suggested to
make it possible for physicians to better engage with patients using
technology.
They include the following:
- Achieve an understanding of the nature of information patients would be expected to share , how they would do it and who would be the person responsible from the clinical team to review the information and at what frequency
- Identify and train a member of the clinical care team to monitor incoming data and decide urgency
- Have a protocol in place to handle medical emergency
- Use the correct judgment to arrive at a decision on whether or not a patient-generated electronic health information needs to be included in a physician’s medical record
The above points can act as valuable guidelines for providers as well in their endeavor to engage patients using technology. Besides, they will also enable them to offer highly effective, efficient and most importantly patient-centered care. With better data and technology at their disposal, it will be possible to see what is happening to patients more easily and, if need be, make the required adjustments in real time. In the new emerging payment models like Accountable Care Organizations, technology can actually play a very crucial role in engaging patients - by prompting more preventive behavior and spurring patient-physician discussions. The new models aim to negate fee-for-service by offering incentives and savings to patients for doing things the right way. This is where they expect technology to play a major role. Mobile health app development teams can help you build clinical and EHR/EMR software projects within allocated budgets and time schedules.
We provide healthcare software integration and Healthcare testing services. If you want to hire certified healthcare software testers for testing your medical application, please contact us at Mindfire Solutions.
