Mobile Health and Me…I think not!!

All that I read tells me, or at least tries to, that the future of healthcare is embedded in mobile healthcare. Through the magnificence of technology, I can see how my health is, test results were and when done, shop for a doctor to fix me if I’m broken. I have the opportunity to find the least expensive option for a cure or, when and if I have the time and after a self-diagnosis I can research my options on the care I need to fix whatever is broken. AND, I can do it all from my iPhone. Are you kidding??? You guys believe that there really are Super Heroes flying around out there, right??

I know that I am not a kid anymore. I know that even though my local hospital is rated as one of the best in the country, it and the doctors in it are a long, long way from the health technology I read so much about. Do we really want them to “compete” for our business?

Forsaking the fact that I live out in the pucker brush, if I get sick, I don’t want to find out about it because I researched the results of some tests, did a self diagnosis and went shopping for a cure. I want MY doctor to tell me what the problem is, if there is one and what can be done to fix it. If I agree with MY doctor, I want him to come up with a cure and whom I might need to be referred to to make it happen. I know that that is not technologically advanced, but it works.

That is one of my problems with all this and I guess I qualify for the title of Dinosaur. I can accept that, but I am also a parent. I take that responsibility very seriously.

One of my son’s is at the tail end of baby boomers and the other at the leading edge of Millennials. Both are very technology savvy. I think that the healthcare expectations I read about are nuts and even if it means being labeled a Dinosaur, I have to caution them about mHealth.

I watched my youngest son ignore the fact that the cold he was suffering from was very severe and getting worse. He finally went to one of those minute clinics and found out that he really had the flu and a touch of pneumonia to go with it. They suggested that he go to where I was trying to get him to go to. A real doctor. Had he done it originally he wouldn’t have lost three weeks because he was too sick to do much.

Then there is my very tech savvy baby boomer son. He understands HIT and mobile health better than most. Two times in the last three years he needed medical care. The first time he went to the minute clinic and they gave him Ibuprofen. It cured the hurt. The second time, he was doing an EHR implementation at a major university hospital. He spoke to one of the doctors he was working with, explained his issues, and was referred to the emergency room. They diagnosed him, treated him and sent him home because he was still contagious. He had also done a self diagnosis, on his smart phone. while sitting in an airport. His diagnosis was faulty.

Having gone through 3-4 life threatening illnesses in my life, the future methods of healthcare scares the heck out of me. It’s the future of medicine, I’m told. Iron Man, Bat Man, where are you when we need you?

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5 Comments

  • Interesting and valid thoughts but I believe he is confusing self-diagnosis with mhealth. I would argue, in a perfect world, that the appropriate mHealth tracking, combined with physician oversite would have resulted in a quicker diagnosis and treatment.

  • Greg and Philippe – “I believe he is confusing self-diagnosis with mhealth”. Not at all. For much of mhealth to trigger, it requires the patient to pull that trigger. Neither of my sons as well as many in their generations do not have what could be their doctor. If I didn’t have a doctor nor felt any reason to contact one, all is fine. If I feel ill, I must contact a doctor, apparently haggle over price, and determine treatment to follow, if any. That is a self diagnosis followed by mHealth or something akin to it.

    In the world of us Dinosaurs, there is a similar scenario accept I probably have my doctor on speed dial. Unless I self diagnose something or have a regular, periodic appointment we are not apt to communicate. Because he also lives in the world of the Dinosaurs, technology usage between us will be minimal. He’s still very new in the use of cell phone calls to patients with any results.

  • Agreed, the promises of healthcare technology are easier to write about than to adopt and optimize in practice. Also, self-diagnosing without seeking medical advice is never the most expedient choice. Technology is forever evolving at a fast pace. To avoid problems such as those your children experienced, we need to keep providers and patients up to date on the communication, usage, and quality of mobile technology. There’s no question that mHealth is on healthcare’s horizon, so we need to stay prepared for and ahead of the change.

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