By Britta Barrett | Posted March 9 2010
The most meaningful technological advances are those that change how we interact with the world. In the case of healthcare, technology could transform the doctor-patient relationship.
Of the Harvard Business Review’s list of Ten Breakthrough Ideas for 2010, the second is “The Technology That Can Revolutionize Health Care.”
This technology isn’t a heart monitor or stem cell research (or even the Vscan). It’s the set of technologies that can “improve the most critical factor in the quality of health care: the patient’s relationship with the provider.”
The great thing is, many of these technologies already exist: email, videoconferencing, mobile phones, etc. But we aren’t using them within the healthcare system as well as we could be. Author Dr. Ronald Dixon believes virtual communication can and should augment in-person visits, improving the patient-provider relationship as a whole. In his words “virtual interaction can support more solicitous care, not less—and lead to better outcomes.”
What if you could email your doctor? Or what if an elderly relative had access to a kiosk that could monitor blood pressure straight from his or her assisted-living facility? Reliable data could be shared with the doctor in real-time, creating a situation where prompt feedback from a doctor or nurse is viable.
According to Dr. Dixon, up to 60% of today’s office visits could be eliminated if doctors and patients engaged in multiple forms of virtual communication. Wow. That time could instead be used to care for additional patients and address shortage areas. A pretty amazing prospect.
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