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HEALTH
& FITNESS: The "Web-Informed" Patient
Tech-savvy
patients resist being treated as having stereotypical "condition
x" and want customized attention. In the future,
the Web-informed patient - not the doctor - will drive the
healthcare system. Seeking increased control over their health
through personalized treatments, patients will routinely go
online to download their health info, get e-diagnoses from
doctors and other caregivers, review their own charts, and
track their own treatment plans.
People
increasingly show self-reliance in maintaining their physical
and mental well-being. The more knowledgeable people are,
they usually make better lifestyle and healthcare decisions,
and play a much more active role in their self-care. Anyone
with Web access who faces a health crisis can easily find
info on procedures, new therapies, and even innovative treatments
not yet covered by their health plan.
Treat-yourself
medical devices also are proliferating. Here are just
four examples:
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Asthma
patients can use a pocket-size airway monitor called
AirWatch that records breathing. |
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Diabetics
can monitor their blood-sugar readings online. |
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Heart
pacemaker patients now transmit data over phone lines
to their doctors. |
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Automated
defibrillators (used to shock the heart back to a
natural rhythm) are being deployed in public places -
often alongside fire extinguishers - for use by co-workers,
travelers, and passersby. |
Such
devices are forerunners to comprehensive clinic stations that
will become commonplace in public places - and in our homes.
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