In this episode of MyPal Dr Amara Nwosu provides an overview of the health secretary’s recent speech to the Health Service Journal which outlined the potential role of technology in healthcare.

There is the potential to use technology to help patients self management their conditions and facilitate more personalised proactive management of there health.

However 4 potential pitfalls were highlighted.

1. The issue of Bureaucracy, where technology is used as a means to a end where the systems detract from patient care.

2. A lack of accountability, where shared computer systems bewteen different healthcare providers remove accountability from anyone taking overall responsibility for care.

3. The problem of cost. Investment in expensive systems that cost too much and cannot be maintained long term.

4. Data security issues. The concern that the NHS can keep data safe.

Despite the potential barriers technology can be used to improve patient outcomes but should not be an end itself; it must aim to improve patient care. This is a good starting point to evaluate the role technology has in healthcare.

References

Smart patients
Emma Hill, Lancet Volume 15, No. 2, p140–141, February 2014.
http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanonc/article/PIIS1470-2045(14)70044-0/abstract

The Patient Will See You Now: The Future of Medicine is in Your Hands by Eric Topol
http://www.amazon.com/The-Patient-Will-See-You/dp/0465054749

Patient reported outcomes
http://sites.duke.edu/rethinkingclinicaltrials/patient-reported-outcomes/

Use of an electronic patient-reported outcome measurement system to improve distress management in oncology
Palliat Support Care. 2014 Feb; 12(1): 69–73.
Sophia K. Smith, Krista Rowe, Amy P. Abernethy
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4066540/

Copyright Dr Amara Nwosu, KingAmi Media 2015.
http://www.amaranwosu.com

Music by Bensound
http://www.bensound.com/royalty-free-music