Transcript COMM 3302 eHealth & Telemedicine

COMM 3302
eHealth & Telemedicine
Shawn McCombs
UH School of Communication
http://soc.class.uh.edu/~smccombs
 2006 UH School of Communication - Health Communication Lecture Series - All Rights Reserved
The Need for Digital
Health:
News Ways to Meet New
Demands in a Rapidly Changing
World
COMM 3302
eHealth & Telemedicine
Shawn McCombs
UH School of Communication
http://soc.class.uh.edu/~smccombs
Topics
Key Terms
Population Changes: We Ain’t Gettin’ Any
Younger... - Good Thing We’ve Got the
Internet
Matching Needs With Resources:
Catering and Understanding Health Info
Needs
I Can’t Get No... Satisfaction Online
Public Services Online
Key Terms
•NSF (US)
•NSF (Great Britain)
•Telemedicine
•NSFOP
•ACTION
•Blog
•Wiki
•Five Main Goals of EHealth
•Ritualistic Internet Use
•Instrumental
Internet Use
•Etiology
•Myocardial
Infarction
•Socio-emotional
•Nonverbal
Communication
•Insatiability
•Millenials
•Postmillenials
Major Topics:
•Privacy and
Accuracy of Health
Information Online
•iDTS versus
Internet as Health
Info Delivery
Overview
Growing Populations combined limited resources makes
it necessary to find better alternatives to the current
health care system.
Governments are now willing to investigate innovative,
cost effective and resource preserving methods of
delivering public and health services.
Knowing and understanding sociological demographics
(generations) can help to better understand how to use
technology to deliver health communication and
services.
Overview, Continued...
Technological advances have made it
much easier to communicate; learning to
use (and trusting) technology to it’s
potential, however, is another matter
altogether.
Testing the Waters: Many now use the
internet as a source for medical and health
communication and services.
Even with security and privacy issues in
the forefront, most recognize ICT potential
and realize that it’s both an information
source as well as a medium for health
related transactions.
Overview, Continued...
Aging and elder generations will have the most difficulty
learning to trust ICTs as a viable alternative to traditional
health communication and services - though they represent
the fastest growing demographic of online users
Could present internal dilemma / struggle
Anonymity is a two way street
good for consumers who wish to protect identity; bad for consumers
because anyone can build web pages...
Validation of diagnoses: checking your doc’s
work
•
*Significance = what happens when your findings contradict those of your
doctor’s?.
Overview, Continued...
Some compelling issues at work:
More elderly people than ever before;
And they’re not just older - but better educated;
They are embracing the technology and not afraid to use it;
Add all of these up and you get increased demand for
health communication and services access, options, and
services.
This shift in the demographic provides the
strongest influence for Gvt’s to adopt change.
•
Overview, Continued...
Telemedicine: Delivery of medical
consultations by Internet, text, audio, video, or
other electronic methods while providing
medical consultation opportunities for patients
that would otherwise be difficult or impossible.☤
Mun & Turner, Emerging E-Medicine, 1999
Population Changes: We Ain’t Gettin’
Any Younger... - Good Thing We’ve
Got the Internet
The Changing Population Demographics
and an Aging Population
Help is On the Way: Online Health
Information Will Save the Day
At the Outset...
•The planet is NOT getting any bigger,
but the population IS.
•The current system is already strained
and in many cases broken. This is a
direct result of an ingrained submissive
mentality combined with healthy living
and a longer life span.
A Changing Population
The US
population grew
from 200 Million to
299 Million in 36
years.
The Global
population nearly
doubled in that
same time - from
3.6 Billion to 6.7
Billion today
A Changing Population, Continued...
Especially noticeable is the rising elderly
population - good because Grannie is
staying around a bit longer these days...
but bad because... well, you get the idea:
US Population Expansion:
One birth every.............................
7 seconds
One death every.............................
13 seconds
One international migrant (net) every.......
30 seconds
Net gain of one person every................
10 seconds
*Source: US Census Bureau: http://www.census.gov/
A Changing Population, Continued...
And the elderly
population is
getting more...
elderly!
And lets remember
that this is the
demographic typically
at greater risk for
disease and
disability...
Solutions?
A Changing Population, Continued...
And it’s not just the elderly:
2006
Overall: 299.7 M
Over 85: 5.1 M
2030
2050
Overall: 363.6 M
Over 85: 9.6 M
Overall: 419.9 M
Over 85: 20.9 M
A Changing Population, Continued...
The aging population presents
governments with new opportunities to
identify ways to meet several critical
needs:
Alleviating a overburdened healthcare system
Health information
anything from prescription drug info to finding good doctors to
Healthy Lifestyles and Best Practices
Preventative
Maintenance - strategies for healthier, longer
living
The premise in eHealth: giving some of the
responsibility back to the
patients/caregivers:
Goal: improving the overall general health and awareness of
the population
And younger people are now using eHealth to identify
strategies for preventing disease and longevity
A Changing Population, Continued...
Financial Concerns Exist:
We talked briefly about the benefits to to patients and caregivers
for eHealth and a beefed-up online public services system... but
what about the be... but what about benefits to society? Does
spending money on technology increase the cost of services?
Shifting ideology from “dependence” to
“independence” - using technology
infrastructures to encourage a more active
role in both better, healthier living and
consumption of health communication and
services
British moving toward “family planning” care and support network
model as opposed to traditional social services that tie up the
health care system. A major component to this system is the use of
eHealth & Telemedicine for either patient, caregiver, or both.
A Changing Population, Continued...
Technology has been used in healthcare
since the 1940’s
But mostly for treatment activities, Alarms, and limited
communication (RTV, print, PSAs)
Some Assumptions:
Online (eHealth) holds benefits to consumers who heed
warnings and use the info being communicated
Technology is expensive, but relative
New online community building (chat, blogs, wiki’s, etc.)
The toughest challenge might be keeping the information
current
A Changing Population, Continued...
The Evidence:
Population and Physical Needs Δ at a greater rate than
Resources Can be Produced
The Goal:
Educate the populous; develop a modern, comfortable,
technology-driven public (health) services system with
emphasis on eHealth and Telemedicine exposure and
consumption.
The Intended Outcome:
An older, wiser, healthier consumer base that takes initiative
and ownership of healthcare and related issues, while reversing
the trend of the submissive “patient” role and making better use
of existing and future resources.
“Tell me what i want, what i really,
really want...”
A Match Made in Cyberspace:
Catering for Health Info Needs;
Understanding Health info Needs;
...And Knowing How to Find them (searching).
Horse to Water: Nonusers and Avoiders
Understanding and Meeting
Health Info Needs
•Early Bureaucracies: Communication
activities were the lowest priorities.
Technology as we know it today simply didn’t
exist, thereby making even the simplest of
messages difficult to share.
*Text Chapter 2
*https://www.oah.org/pubs/magazine/communication/Beniger.html
Understanding and Meeting Health
Info Needs, Continued...
Historically, communication and consumer
empowerment given lowest priority in
bureaucracies.
Especially true in Government Services and Health Care
Legacy technologies expensive
Cost-Benefit ratios often fell in favor of the
company or Government
When choosing to spend on R&D or delivery versus
Communication, very little thought went into preventative
Maintenance and/or Patient empowerment
Understanding and Meeting Health
Info Needs, Continued...
US Models have now been largely
championed globally
adopted in many places around the
world
eHealth (Health Communication) now has
one of the highest priorities in
governments
Understanding and Meeting Health
Info Needs, Continued...
Modern Governments have finally
committed to incorporating health
communication into government services
Took a change in leadership (Labour, 1997) and progressive
thinkers to make use of available technologies
Early versions weighed heavily on telephony - now transformed into web
The lay public should be equal partners in
healthcare process
No more “Patient” mentality
Open dialogue towards patient-driven care and accommodating
needs and wishes
Understanding and Meeting Health
Info Needs, Continued...
GB took it one step further with “311”-type
government services - NHS Direct
web and phone, and iDTV based
The importance of Feedback in the
communication process
In this example, feedback can minimize instances where
healthcare consumers might have otherwise wasted resources
because they were able to communicate issues through
internalized feedback mechanisms
Understanding and Meeting Health
Info Needs, Continued...
And what about understanding health information
needs:
Remember, communication is historically the
last area to get funding in bureaucracies:
Primitive methods of information
dissemination = DISTRUST
Authentic? Appropriate?
Today, various stakeholders (parents,
elderly, etc.) need reliable and useful on
a variety of topics.
Understanding and Meeting Health
Info Needs, Continued...
eHealth users require quick access to
resources and info:
Health Communication consumers need lots of reliable
information
physically accessible and easily understood
Five Major Needs from eHealth and Health
Communication:
•1. Gain realistic idea of prognosis;
•2. Making the most of consultations;
•3. Learning about available services / help;
•4. Identifying Self-Help Groups;
•5. Preventing further illness.
Understanding and Meeting Health
Info Needs, Continued...
The Power of eHealth in real terms:
1/2 of all who used the web (eHealth) to learn
about health concerns advised a family member
to seek treatment.
Others avoided unnecessary trips to the ER
and/or doc after quick review online and use of
Telemedicine tools provided remedies.
Health issues are serious, so people are
generally event-driven:
Instrumental rather than Ritualistic users
I Can’t Get No... Satisfaction
Online
Making the Best of the Experience
Self-Help and the Active Role Concept: Major
component to Empowerment
Beam Me Up, Dr. McCoy - the Telemedicine
Way
Satisfaction Online
People who are unwell need treatment and
social support!
eHealth & Telemedicine serves two very
unique but equal components:
•1. empower people to take charge of their health care
by presenting necessary tools
•2. alleviate increasing strain on public and private
healthcare services
Finding a happy medium can be difficult
but not impossible
Satisfaction Online, Continued...
Major components to satisfaction with
eHealth & Telemedicine:
•1. Security
•2. Intuitiveness
•3. Efficiency
When any of these are compromised, user
confidence will be marginalized.
Satisfaction Online, Continued...
Healthcare professionals (providers),
Insurance companies, Governments, and
consumers (patients and caregivers) all
have an equal stake in ensuring
satisfaction online:
Which group has the greatest stake?
Satisfaction Online, Continued...
One major challenge to the M:N
environment of health services online:
If you look long enough, you’ll eventually find the answer you’re
looking for (want) - even when at odds with conventional
wisdom
Patients/Caregivers who get bad news at
the doc’s office will sometimes use the
internet to downplay the seriousness of the
situation
looking for a better answer someplace
else
This is bad, bad, bad; efforts in public education can help
Additional Reading, Cites:
https://www.oah.org/pubs/magazine/communication/Beniger.ht
ml
http://www.census.gov/ipc/www/usinterimproj/natprojtab02a.p
df
http://www.census.gov/
More To Come...
COMM 3302
eHealth & Telemedicine
Shawn McCombs
UH School of Communication
http://soc.class.uh.edu/~smccombs
 2006 UH School of Communication - Health Communication Lecture Series - All Rights Reserved