Making Healthcare a Team Sport
You know that quote about teamwork? “There is no ‘I’ in teamwork”. We have been told our entire life that teamwork is the key to any successful project, be it winning a world cup or just finishing a class project.
Now, health is the main contributor to our success in lives, then why not treat it as a team sport too? Imagine, a pool of doctors, nutritionists and yoga instructors focused on your health. An interconnected team that knows all your physical and mental conditions well would be an optimal choice. Not only would they be completely aware of all your problems but would also be able to make an informed choice for you, taking into consideration all of your needs and wants.
How Coordinated Care can be Beneficial
Taking care of the total health of an individual involves at least a dozen people from various fields. The problem with such healthcare today is that these people involved in taking care of you are not connected, thus they only know bits and pieces of your medical history. For example, your nutritionist might not be aware that your gym coach has told you to do 50 pushups every day; if your nutritionist was aware of this fact he/she would accommodate your dietary needs accordingly. The solution to this problem is coordinated care. Coordinated care can be seen as a shared decision-making model — a team of experts and practitioners of healthcare that knows all about your medical data. Each member of your team has a distinct and important role to play in your healthcare but now they do so having the holistic view of your health. By being the centre of this team, you will be able to take total control of your health.
Care Anytime, Anywhere
The whole idea of making health a team sport can seem a tad bit utopian, but with the kind of technology and innovation present in the market today, the idea is not far-fetched. Devices like smartwatches can measure data such as your blood pressure, heart rate, and steps walked anytime, anywhere. Not only do they measure this data, they also analyse the data to give you certain results. This data can be stored and shared with all your healthcare experts. Thus each and everyone on your team has full visibility into your statistics.
In this time and age, healthcare is not bound to the four walls of a hospital or clinic. According to a US study in 2014 conducted by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention 1 in 25 patients end up with a hospital-acquired infection, making hospitals a not so safe place to be. Technology today enables us to have healthcare services at our doorstep. From health check-ups to pharmacies everything is just a button away. Apart from this, applications have started amalgamating blockchain technology with healthcare to make the entire process more organised, decentralized and transparent. The future of technology in healthcare has a long way to go but it is a bright one nonetheless.
Make yourself the captain
One thing that has to be kept in mind with healthcare is that the final call is always yours. Even though your team might have a varying opinion, you have the right to make the final decision for your body. Take their recommendations and suggestions to make an informed choice for yourself. Having a small team for yourself, with you as the captain means that your data will also be secure as it will not leave this pool of people. The first step towards taking control of your health is to create goals for yourself. Unless you have your healthcare goals clear, you can’t lead a team into achieving them. Start small, reach those targets first and then slowly aim for better.
Continuous, coordinated care is what we need to make healthcare much more efficient than traditional healthcare systems. The technology and innovation available in the market today, enable us to move towards this goal. Bringing the technology, the providers of healthcare and the patient into one coordinated team can simplify the process and even amplify the end result.
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