Modern technology allows users to take charge of their health ...

By: Kendall Ho

VANCOUVER ? A 2010 Statistics Canada survey found 64 out of 100 Canadians age 16 years or older searched the Internet for medical and health related information. Usage in United States is even higher; a 2011 survey found eight out of 10 Americans go online for health and medical reasons. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration recently estimated 17,828 health and fitness apps and 14,558 medical apps are currently available for mobile phones. These statistics illustrate how modern electronic technologies such as smart phones and tablets, coupled with social media and the Internet, are rapidly changing how the general public is seeking health information and services.

EHealth ? the use of modern electronic technologies to access health information and services ? has clearly shown health benefits. For example, citizens living in rural and remote parts of our province and country can consult nurses, doctors, or specialists online if they are not in the same communities where they live. People use text messaging to quit smoking or remind them to take medications. Family members use video conferencing to virtually visit their loved ones being treated in hospitals miles away from their own communities. High school students program smartphone apps to help detect falls of the elderly and automatically email or text for help if necessary.

These are but a few innovative examples of how eHealth can help us take care of ourselves and receive health services online. However, eHealth is still far from being a routine part of our health system. While we now regularly use the Internet and our mobile phones for banking, travel, or accessing government services, how many of us can make doctors or hospital appointments, find our own test results, or talk to health professionals about our health concerns online, safely and securely? Surveys on eHealth point to these types of activities as those many would like to have but don?t regularly yet. How long will it take before we can count on these and other eHealth innovations being available for us to use routinely, safely, and in a cost-effective way?

Thanks to governments, hospitals, health professionals and technology companies, eHealth is making progress. For example, Canada Health Infoway, the federal government-funded organization charged with ensuring Canadians have access to secure and useful electronic health records, has been actively working with all the provinces and territories to set national eHealth standards, and raise awareness of eHealth with the general public. Provincial governments and health authorities are investing in technology infrastructures and setting policies to guide the implementation of eHealth. Educational organizations such as the UBC Faculty of Medicine are helping health professionals to learn more about eHealth and use it in practice with their patients. Active research is also happening to refine existing ways and imagine new approaches to use modern technologies for health and treatment improvement for our citizens.

Meanwhile, what can you do to bring eHealth benefits to yourself and your loved ones? I would suggest four immediate steps for you to get involved:

1. Commit to be an active health consumer: Take an active interest in your own health and go online to find information that is of interest and can be useful to you. For example, try to find at least one app to start thinking about how you can use it to help you achieve wellness and better health. Go to Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, or social media sites to look for information and participate in discussions. Lots of health information is out there waiting for you to discover.

2. Get to know the new technologies and use them for health: Knowing where treasures are buried, we need to have tools to dig them out. Learn to use social media, SMS and smart-phone apps and use these skills to search for health information that is relevant to you and your loved ones.

3. Think of eHealth ways to help you help yourself: Just imagine for a minute, what do you need right now to improve your health? Exercising more? Losing a few pounds? Knowing how your blood pressure and heart rate are doing or how well you are sleeping at night? Once you have an idea, check out if ?there?s an app for that.? Very likely you will find someone else has already thought of it and developed something for you to use. If there isn?t, you may have uncovered a super idea that is worth exploring further with others.

4. Work with your health professionals to ensure safety and accuracy: While valuable health resources can be found online, you need to make sure they are accurate and suitable for you. Make sure you determine with your own doctor, nurse, pharmacist, or trusted health professional first if the information is helpful or harmful to you, especially if it involves taking pills or supplements, or doing unusual or even extreme activities.

In Canada, we are blessed with excellent electronic infrastructure and technologies for us to stay connected, and a great health system to support our health. Current and future developments in eHealth require partnerships and participation of policy-makers, health professionals, industry and citizens like yourselves who are familiar with and want to use eHealth.

When it comes to getting to know eHealth, think of Steve Jobs? two famous mottoes: ?Stay hungry, stay foolish.? Hungry for health information and apps that can help you live healthier lives and manage your illnesses better; foolish to keep asking questions and learning about your own body in partnership with your health professionals. And, ?Think different.? Keep thinking how can eHealth help me achieve better health?

Dr. Kendall Ho is a professor in emergency medicine and director of the eHealth Strategy Office, faculty of medicine, University of British Columbia. @eHealthStrategy.

Source: http://o.canada.com/2012/11/27/modern-technology-allows-users-to-take-charge-of-their-health/

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