Improved healthcare outcomes is a goal for providers, patients and partners. Last week’s Digital Health Week, part of Better Health Together, brought together these stakeholders exploring how technology can drive these improved outcomes.
Patients, Providers and the Future of Health care
The Patient, Providers and the Future of Health care webinar with Dr. Kendall Ho and patient, Iris Kisch, was a particularly excellent session.
“2/3 rds of patients over 65 indicate that they want to use technology in health” said Dr. Ho from University of British Columbia.
As a real change in practice and to illustrate the point Dr Ho. actually prescribes a smartphone app with seniors. He described how patient engagement correlates with improved healthcare outcomes. The utilization of health indicator monitoring apps also lend themselves to the idea of expert patients.
Congratulations to Canada Health Infoway for envisaging this campaign and putting together such great webinars and discussions. The clever specification of hashtag #thinkdigitalhealth together with the social media Think Digital Health image overlay was inspired and will have done much to further draw attention to this important subject. Visit the website links to see all the events from last week and further resources.
Stop Pressure Ulcer Day
Last week has also Stop Pressure Ulcer Day on November 19. It was established by the European Pressure Ulcer Advisory Panel (EPUAP) in 2012 to drive eliminate of preventable Pressure Ulcers. Over the last 3 years it has advanced substantially through social media. I am proud to say that I initiated the #StopPUday2015 hashtag convention back in 2013. Last week according to Hashtagging.com it created more than 750,000 impressions on Twitter.
Hacking Health
This week I am looking forward to the Hacking Health Waterloo Cafe. The speakers are Remy Beaumont, Renishaki Kamal and Simon Woodside. I will be tweeting from the event through @opencityinc and using #hackinghealthKW
Patient advocacy
Finally a question: Which patient charitable organisations are most recognized as engaging their members in healthcare advocacy? How have they utilized technology to best effect. Please reply to @opencityinc.