Despite the medical community (Payers, Providers, and LifeScience firms, Policy Makers and Regulators) claim and strive to deliver a more "patient-centered" healthcare system, I found patient centricity to be fractured and disconnected. Without patients having a standardized approach, process, or protocols to guide them, patients and their families experience more pain to an already painful experience.  We must address this properly and not consider it as a bolt-on solution to existing activity.  To confront this issue, we have to begin by first plotting a patient’s journey and learn what interactions are being conducted at each stage.  Understanding their journeys and mapping opportunities into an applicable framework is key (see framework below).  Only then can we begin building a continuum of desired experiences in each area, evaluate the providers, monitor the progress of each individual along the path, trigger personalized information for actions to guide them along, and begin to create repeatable formulas for an expected experience at scale. 

In an age where data and sensors are more prevalent than ever, we can capture a patient’s profile attributes, location and activity-related details, we sorely lack meaningful interactions that play a key role in patient’s recovery. As more technology gets introduced and gets stitched together with existing technology layers, the emphasis is always on the efficiency of the transaction. The human side of technology quickly gets lost. Understanding human engagement can make technology a more impactful tool for healthcare.

Use Technology to Help Patients Visualize and Understand

Due to the advent of the internet and mobile technology, patients have unprecedented access to their own information and monitoring devices making it possible to collect personal health data. Introducing visualization tools makes the information more valuable to patients. Promoting stronger interactions, engagements, and discussions resulting in better patient satisfaction.

Go Beyond the Circle of Influence

In the past, the healthcare system was limited to hospitals and medical facilities. Most of the tasks in the healthcare industry were geared towards treating problems after they occurred. Why not bring existing social technologies to prevent more diseases and help with more chronic conditions. Educating patients and their family members about various aspects of the disease can significantly improve the quality of care. Patients and family members can monitor conditions in real-time and ask the professionals to help during high-risk situations. Technologies can help expand the circle of influence and empower the patients to take care of themselves better.

Create Value Through Communication

Today mobile communication makes it possible for physicians and patients to share information instantly. Open communication channels can improve the quality of care because it’s easier for patients to ask for help from their doctors. However communication through technology can take many forms, i.e. emotions can get lost in emoticons and emojis. Hospitals and healthcare centers need to use electronic communication channels for interactions with their patients but empathy training becomes more important. Through such training, physicians and nurses can learn to listen to their patients and have more fruitful medical interactions. Understanding what patients think and expect about treatments can influence their health outcomes.

Technology has a tendency to create detachment, at UrHealth.ai we believe it is important to define these quantifiable interactions and measurements. Paying attention to the importance of human interactions can make technology a more powerful tool for the healthcare industry.