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The Emergence of Personal Health Systems: Designing Technology for Patients and Clinicians
Tuesday, 20 October 2009
The ability to monitor patients from a distance, using electronic devices to record and send measurements of patients' vital signs, has been a mainstay in the use of medical technology for years. But the needs and expectations of patients with chronic conditions and of healthcare professionals who care for those patients have changed considerably since remote patient monitoring devices were first introduced.
To fulfill these needs, emerging technologies must go far beyond simply monitoring standard vital signs, or just adding new technical features. Instead, they must be able to address the needs of patients as people-connecting patients, caregivers, physicians, nurses, and others in an integrated, systematic, and interoperable way that has not been done on a broad scale.
Fortunately, telehealth technologies are evolving to provide both patients and healthcare professionals with real-time, interactive, data-rich health management systems that can engage both patients and their care management teams more fully in the treatment of their conditions. And just as important, research that focuses more clearly on how people interact with technology has led to a more comprehensive and coordinated approach to designing technology systems.
This paper explores the ways in which the next generation of telehealth technology can help satisfy the needs of patients in the years ahead, a time that will be marked by significant growth in the number of people who live with chronic conditions. This technology will be particularly useful in working with the chronically ill because it can be used to create a more integrated approach to patient care through the inclusion of all the key people involved, from the patient and their physician, to their nurse, family caregiver or other healthcare professionals.
Thoughts, comments, news, and reflections about healthcare IT from Microsoft's worldwide health senior director Bill Crounse, MD, on how information technology can improve healthcare delivery and services around the world.
The ability to monitor patients from a distance, using electronic devices to record and send measurements of patients' vital signs, has been a mainstay in the use of medical technology for years. But the needs and expectations of patients with chronic conditions and of healthcare professionals who care for those patients have changed considerably since remote patient monitoring devices were first introduced.
To fulfill these needs, emerging technologies must go far beyond simply monitoring standard vital signs, or just adding new technical features. Instead, they must be able to address the needs of patients as people-connecting patients, caregivers, physicians, nurses, and others in an integrated, systematic, and interoperable way that has not been done on a broad scale.
