Medicine in a Peer-to-Peer context
From a patient perspective this is what we all want. And research supports that getting the patient involved in their healthcare at all levels improves outcomes. So, you have a win-win scenario for the patient and provider, right? Hmmm.
I believe that the prevailing paradigm of the healthcare system is analogous to client-server concepts in computing. Let me explain. Think of the healthcare system as the server where the information is stored, with the patient as the client that pulls the information. Think of IT departments like physicians who control access to 'the system'. And the patient is the end user. Like many IT departments who shun products like Groove, it goes against the grain to allow patients full access to information they could use to conduct self care. After all, physicians undergo extensive and rigorous training to gain their credentials (and they earn it, no doubt). But what if we could put in fail-safes to self care so that patients could handle more of their healthcare without intervention by physicians or the system itself? This principle is the foundation of Preventive Medicine concepts. "Feed a man...teach a man to fish..." in action.
Back to the P2P thing and healthcare thing. Using P2P technologies in healthcare not only imparts a sense of an equal playing field to the patient in contacts with their healthcare team, but tools themselves may enable more effective interaction between the patient and those providing care. This must lead to better outcomes, and reduction in the spiraling costs of healthcare. Want to improve the economy in a way that takes care of the middle class? Yep, reducing the costs of healthcare is a great start. And we all get the kind of healthcare system that exists only conceptually...patients and the system as partners.
Pinch me for I am surely dreaming now.
11:31:11 PM 
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