Patient empowerment or advances in healthcare self-management
Technological developments and access to information through digital media are changing the habits of our society. Advances that were unthinkable just a few years ago are now part of our daily lives and allow us to be more involved in our health in an easy and convenient way, wherever we are.
Thus, the patient model has changed from a “passive” role, in which the patient was limited to receiving information from healthcare professionals and following their instructions, to an “active” role, in which the patient is proactively involved in seeking information about their health or illness, suggests alternative treatments that they believe are more suited to their needs, or is simply more aware of the importance of self-care and its role in leading a healthy lifestyle to enjoy a better quality of life.
This is one of the major trends in the field of health and represents a paradigm shift, allowing people themselves to take on a more active and relevant role in their own health care. This is what is known as patient “empowerment”, through proper education and information, which allows them to make more informed decisions and also implies a quantum leap in the doctor-patient-pharmacist relationship. Therefore, without losing sight of the fact that the professionals’ perspective is essential, it is possible to move towards self-management healthcare solutions that allow patients to be more involved in the control of their health.
What are the benefits of advances in healthcare self-management?
The democratisation of technology, and especially the widespread use of smartphones and other smart devices, has made healthcare self-management a growing trend, thanks to the emergence of simple biometric or fitness apps, for example. The access to certain health self-monitoring tests at pharmacies is also worth particular mention, such as glucose or cholesterol tests, which with the support of the healthcare professional can be a very useful tool for the detection and monitoring of the main risk indicators of the most common chronic diseases in our society.
All these systems that allow the patient to monitor their own health indicators, as well as others that may arrive in the near future, open up various possibilities and provide a range of advantages:
- They provide healthcare professionals with real-time access to measurements at all stages of assessing a patient’s health, as well as to perform diagnostics and follow-ups on an ongoing basis.
- They represent an opportunity for healthcare professionals, allowing them to have a closer doctor-patient-pharmacist relationship, without the need for them to be physically close at all times.
- They enable the early detection and prevention of various diseases by being able to detect, for example, through different monitoring wearables, health problems that may go unnoticed in early stages, such as hypertension or diabetes.
- They provide an impetus for a more sustainable healthcare system through technology, which can be of great use in areas where medical infrastructure is inadequate.
- They offer greater flexibility by allowing certain diagnostics or tests to be performed outside the hospital environment. This avoids overcrowding health centres and speeds up processes for the patient. An example of this are the Covid-19 self-diagnostic tests available at pharmacies, to cite a resource that almost all of us have used at some point.
- All of this results in a more active and conscientious role for patients in their own health care, who, with the right training and tools, can play a crucial role in the control of their own pathologies and the maintenance of their well-being.
At CinfaNext, we work in collaboration with various innovative agents to seek disruptive ideas in this area and thus empower patients with new advances in healthcare self-management. If you think your project could be of interest to us, get in touch!
