How digital healthcare can empower patients

Empowerment. A word that is no stranger to our times. Often used in socio-political discourse to advance the cause of vulnerable groups, empowerment can be briefly defined as the act of giving someone more control over their situation. Terms like personal empowerment and female empowerment can be well heard on the news and read on web blogs. The medical world however, has an empowerment theme of its own: patient empowerment. The World Health Organization (WHO) defines patient empowerment as “a process through which people gain greater control over decisions and actions affecting their health”.

Power to the patient

Patient empowerment is a process, not a single act of completion that immediately achieves optimal results. The patient does not simply wake up one day and decide to be empowered, nor can he order it from the latest uberized app on his smartphone: I think I’ll order some power with extra control from the menu today. No. That’s not exactly how it happens. Several factors must come together to achieve this noble goal, a goal that sits high among our priorities here at Medicus.

Correct Information

In all walks of life, proper decision-making requires the right information. We’ve all heard the expression armed with knowledge and for good reason. Empowering patients begins through educating them and helping them access the correct and necessary information about their health. Patients have the right to understand their situation in all its intricacies. At Medicus, we adopt the same approach by constantly ensuring that information displayed through platforms such as Smart Reports and Homewell is trustworthy, and that sources are cited when needed.

Understandable Information

Information becomes completely pointless if the patient cannot understand it. It devolves into nothing but merely ink on paper. Patients can make informed decisions about their health if they are educated through easily understandable information. These principles are well respected within Medicus. For instance, each biomarker displayed on the interfaces of our different patient-centered products are explained in layman’s terms to users. This ensures that patients do not face challenges in understanding their test results and are well-equipped to take the next step to reach a healthier outcome.

Patient Confidence

Naturally, in order for patients to be empowered, they must both want and believe that they can be empowered. Healthcare professionals play a part in building that confidence through supporting patients and helping them in accessing their own environment and resources to improve their health. We strongly believe in raising patients’ confidence in their health decisions which is reflected in the way our platforms operate. Smart Reports turns complex blood tests and medical reports into user-friendly interactive digital data visualizations that allow patients to enhance their understanding of their health. Smart Wellbeing assists patients in enhancing their wellbeing to attain a healthier lifestyle through evidence-based coaching programs.

Empowerment dynamics

We covered several factors that contribute to patient empowerment such as accurate and user-friendly information, and highlighted the fact that it is also influenced by external elements. Now we will delve into more components that are pivotal to the overall empowering process and conclude with a few underlying challenges that one must take into consideration when thinking of patient empowerment.

Reciprocal Respect

Respect lies at the heart of every successful relationship. Every industry in the world relies on strong relationships to produce successful transactions, and the healthcare industry is no different. Patient empowerment cannot take effect if respect is not reciprocal, it cannot come to fruition if interacting parties do not see themselves as equals. Yes healthcare professionals are the experts, but patient experience must not be undermined. Empowerment is therefore built on relationships that can be perceived as productive partnerships. Respect is highly valued at Medicus; it is upheld with partners and patients in every step of the way. What helps us in preserving such a principle is the credible and trustworthy information that we share with our partners and clients and exhibit through our best-in-class products.

Participative Decision-Making

A participatory approach in decision-making should be considered. A patient can take part in deciding on their health choices thanks to a combination of clinician expertise, accurate information provided in an understandable format, and patient personal experience. Such guidance should also take into consideration the patient’s experience.Respecting the patient’s lifestyle is often vital as failing to do so may ultimately lead to non-adherence. At Medicus laboratories, we are currently working on enhancing the decision-making process. A clinical decision support system to support patient empowerment is currently on our operating table, but that’s a story for another day.

An Enabling Medium

As we’ve outlined before, patient empowerment cannot flourish without an embracing habitat. Patients must be guided, supported, and assisted in an unfamiliar territory. They did not take Patient 101 classes, nor do they have a diploma in dealing with their health. They’re just humans who need help to overcome, enhance, and/or cure their health conditions. They must have the necessary bridge to be able to cross a quite hectic highway. From our side of the road, we attempt to enhance the patient’s environment by providing medical reports in digital, onscreen interactive form, and in PDFs and hard paper for those who are less tech-savvy. Our products are also localized and tailored to the patient’s language and culture to ensure optimal experience.

More power to patient = better healthcare system

This is obviously all good for the patient. But what about the other guys? You know, the ones who actually treat the patients. What’s in it for them? Well, believe it or not, healthcare professionals (HCPs) could also benefit from patient empowerment, and you’re about to see why.

More Literacy Means More Adherence

Telling the patient what’s wrong in the form of user-friendly information is a pivotal step in the path to enhancing the patient’s health literacy. There is a common misconception that informed patients are troublesome as, in an effort to better understand their health situation, they sometimes give out the impression that they know better than HCPs.

But we still think patients should be encouraged to better understand their health, under the guidance of HCPs expertise. This is especially important since patients with low health literacy not only have poorer health status, but they are also less likely to adhere to prescribed treatments, and make less use of preventive services. Simply put, less literacy leads to less patient adherence which results in less patient retention which definitely isn’t good for the healthcare industry.

Self-Efficacy Leads to More Retention

Self-efficacy is when you have the ability to do what is needed to get what you want. In the medical world, it mainly refers to the patient’s autonomous capacity to manage their disease, of course under the right medical guidance. So, if self-efficacy helps the patient to follow through the doctor’s orders, then not only does it empower patients to take better control of their health, but it also leads to more patient adherence.

More Power Equals Less Costs

It is therefore settled, patient empowerment results in more patient adherence, hence, more retention. From an economic standpoint, HCPs are primary beneficiaries of more adherence. Yes, patient empowerment might be challenging as it requires building a collaborative doctor-patient relationship and necessitates continuous negotiation between the two. Yet, the cost of non-adherence places a significant burden on healthcare systems. As a matter of fact, empowered, well-informed patients represent an economic benefit to the healthcare industry. The research is there, patient empowerment leads to positive outcomes for patients and HCPs, everybody wins.

To sum up this entire piece in a few simple words: more patient empowerment leads to more patient adherence and retention which produces more economic benefit for the healthcare industry. More power to the patient = less costs for healthcare.

Patient empowerment does not happen in the blink of an eye, nor does it occur in a vacuum. It is a non-linear, ever-changing process that requires the active involvement and dedication of several entities. It requires an enabling environment, organizational structures, and uncompromising values. It takes the patient from being an idle receiver to becoming a vital cog of the healthcare delivery cycle, and it is something that we should continuously strive to achieve for the development of this noble profession.

The healthcare industry should pursue its efforts in assisting patients in overcoming challenges, which will definitely lead to better outcomes for all.