There are few things more intimidating in medical practice than people who have researched their diagnoses. The Internet has opened up a world of information to anyone who cares to go looking and every modern clinician has faced the well prepared patient. The physician/patient relationship then changes to hopefully become physician/collaborator. This is generally a very good development in the world of medicine. So what happens when people don’t just research disease and treatment on-line, but join together and collaborate? The answers are both fascinating and to be honest a bit intimidating. Many people no longer want to play a passive role in health care. They want to be an active participant in not only diagnosis and treatment of their problems, but in research and development as well. The article The Informed Patient in the Wall Street Journal Online discusses this trend as like-minded people come together in on-line communities. Examples given include the blog e-patients.net and the wiki acor.org. Have a look and prepare to be amazed. The practice of medicine is changing and I believe it is for the better.
Technorati tags: web 2.0, wiki, health 2.0, healthcare, e-patients, acor.org, wall street journal
June 15, 2007 at 2:09 am
You should check out Roni Zeiger (MD) who is over at Google as a Product Manager for their Health Solutions… I think you’ll find some very interesting parallels and agreement.
http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2007/06/is-there-doctor-in-family.html
July 1, 2007 at 6:22 am
The role of a physician as a collaborator instead of an authoritarian director is a change that needs to be made. There is so much medical information being released, that one person can not keep pace with the innovations available. The patient needs to take a role in their own health care. For example, a recent study, showed that Diabetics who played a role in their insulin dose, did as well or better then a physician who was monitoring this dose.
As a physician treating patients who had no education on their disorder and who did not even know what medications they were taking was not only frustrating for me, but often these patient were repeatedly seen in the Emergency Room, instead of an outpatient clinic- were the medical costs and follow-up would be reasonable.
When seen in the ER these patients did not have the benefit of having patient education, as they should have, and one asks who is responsbile for educating the patients, when physicians who should just do not have the time to do this.
I would be interested in hearing about other health care providers who have shared similar experiences, and what solutions or methods they used when encountering patients who were not collaborators in their own health and what form of patient education proves to be most beneficial.
July 4, 2007 at 7:33 pm
Thanks Rick. I agree that the change toward physician as collaborator needs to be made. My personal experience is that we are just beginning to see people take a more active role in their health care. I’m still exploring methods to encourage this trend in my own patients. I will do some research and post a blog in the near future. Anyone else have experience in this area?
October 12, 2007 at 7:08 am
Nice topic and interesting to see from the people that work inside the healthcare organisations.
It has also been posted http://health2.info/story.php?id=909