Yesterday, my morning call was from CVS
pharmacy. It was an interactive voice response (IVR) phone call reminding me of
a refill of my medicine. After dialing several numbers, I was told my medicine
would be ready to be picked up by next Tuesday at my registered pharmacy. I
even signed up for text alert, so when the medicine is there, I will receive a
text message reminding me to pick it up. Life has changed a lot since this kind
of technology is available. People may start to forget how life was when we
have to do everything in person and circle the calendar on the wall to keep
everything on track.
How is the technology working? The term
ICT - information and communication technology, when related to health care, is
often used in forms of health communication strategies, or health information
technology. The concept is one of 2020 Topics & Objectives raised by the Office of Disease Prevention and
Health Promotion. We can find more information about the topic from this link https://www.healthypeople.gov/2020/topics-objectives/topic/health-communication-and-health-information-technology
Why can ICT be
important for personalized health care?
“Effective use of communication and technology by health care and
public health professionals can bring about an age of patient- and
public-centered health information and services. By strategically combining
health IT tools and effective health communication processes, there is the
potential to:
- Improve health care quality and safety.
- Increase the efficiency of health care and public health service delivery.
- Improve the public health information infrastructure.
- Support care in the community and at home.
- Facilitate clinical and consumer decision-making.
- Build health skills and knowledge.”
It is not just the ICT helping distribute
care to individual, the health information of individual can also be gathered
to improve the information infrastructure, help the community, and build a more
knowledgeable environment for the society. The exchange of information creates
a virtuous cycle. With more people becoming a part of the ICT user, the health
care system can be improved significantly, and the improvement can be seen in
very short time.
Starting from next post, I will give some
examples on ICT’s impact on delivering
personalized care. Hope you find them interesting.
References
Health Communication and Health Information Technology - Office of
Disease Prevention and Health Promotion. https://www.healthypeople.gov/2020/topics-objectives/topic/health-communication-and-health-information-technology
Image from http://www.alpsbiocluster.eu/autonomy-and-healthcare/e-care-leading-group/e-care-leading-group
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