“The tools are in place. The culture is shifting to expect that people have access to information and each other. There is mounting evidence that connecting patients with each other and with their data can have a positive effect on health outcomes…”
I’ll speak today at Health 2.0 Santa Clara about the new environment for health care decisions. The slides are up on the Pew Internet site — a bare-bones representation of my remarks, but maybe intriguing since they contain a sneak preview of an upcoming report about people living with chronic conditions.
Thanks for posting a link to your presentation slides, Susannah. A small point to clarify: on your slide where you have “9 in 10 own a (cellphone) tracker”, I think it’s important to add that, as another 2013 Pew report says, only 60% of cell phone owners access the internet, so not all cellphones can be considered ‘trackers’. Even among smartphones that can access the internet, only half have downloaded apps, health-related or otherwise.
regards,
C.
Thanks, Carolyn!
Indeed, here is the latest mobile data (we keep this page updated, so you can count on it being the latest, even if you are reading this comment six months from now):
http://pewinternet.org/Commentary/2012/February/Pew-Internet-Mobile.aspx
I’m seeing some really interesting uses of SMS/text messaging and tracking, so while you’re right that a big portion of cell phone owners (esp people with chronic conditions) don’t have the capacity for the fanciest apps, they can use their phones to track. I’ll blog about those when I can.
Looking forward to those numbers! An interesting series of future survey questions might include where and how those living with chronic conditions uses their (non-smart) phones. For example, people of my grown kids’ generation are never without their phones (at work, at play, at the dinner table – attached to their bodies with surgeon-like precision!) My own cellphone lives in a side pocket of my purse, hanging on a hook by the front door, which accompanies me only when I’m out with said purse, and used only for outgoing calls or texts (“I’m running late..” etc). And because I use it so infrequently, the battery’s often dead when I do want to use it. I can’t believe I’m the only one in our vast Baby Boomer demographic who doesn’t carry a phone 24/7.
It was great meeting you at Med X Susannah. I have to say that you’re probably the person with the most exact match between real life and your online persona.
I thought the slides were very informative. 70% of U.S. adults -> professional care, 60% friends and family, 24% turned to others. (I’m assuming this is referring to the 45% of adults with chronic conditions). It’s so interesting to see which trends society wants to optimize. “Access to care” is a big deal, and it also has a high rate. Surprised we don’t push more often the idea of “access to peers” like Michael Weiss explained. That 24% is so anemic.
Thanks, Brett! Back atcha on the match between your online persona and your real-life self. Such a pleasure to meet in person.
I only posted the general population findings on that “last time you had a serious health issue” question because I’m holding back the chronic disease population data for an upcoming report release. Spoiler: people living with chronic conditions are more likely than other adults to tap all 3 sources.
Susannah,
Through my own experience with patients, I too have come to believe connecting patients with each other has a positive effect on their health. Eventually, docs like me should be able to refer people to epatient communities for most chronic conditions. In the meantime, I encourage epatient communities to speak at medical association meetings and develop content for in-person and online physician CME.
-richard
Thanks, Richard!
I’m going to be on a panel tomorrow at the Diabetes + Innovation conference sponsored by the Joslin Diabetes Center at Harvard (yes, another conference…tis the season).
Check out the description:
Social Networking and Diabetes – Does the Research Match with the Reality? Friday, 10:00 AM – 11:00 AM
Moderator: Larry Weber, Chief Executive Officer and Chairman, W2 Group
Panelists:
Amy Tenderich, Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Diabetes Mine
Manny Hernandez, President, Diabetes Hands Foundation
Susannah Fox, Associate Director, Pew Research Center
Hadley George, Founder, Type One Teens; Freshman, Mariemont High School, Cincinnati, Ohio
Jason Bronner, MD, Associate Clinical Professor, UC San Diego School of Medicine; Internist, UC San Diego Health System
Christina Roth, Chief Executive Officer and Founder, College Diabetes Network
And the background on it:
NPR’s Morning Edition ran a story in Dec. 2012 with the following headline: “Social Media Help Diabetes Patients (And Drugmakers) Connect”
And the following quote from Dr. Bronner:
“There’s no proof in diabetes that social networking is helpful.”
Now, he said more than that, so go read & listen the full story. But it sparked a significant debate among people with diabetes. For example, a group posted this:
Open letter to NPR about Diabetes Social Media piece
And Diabetes Mine collected the PWD community’s reaction in a Storify:
http://storify.com/DiabetesMine/response-to-npr-story-on-diabetes-and-social-media
Suffice to say, it’s been interesting to be on the planning calls. I’ll report back.
For those interested in learning more about the Health 2.0 panel, I’ve posted my remarks and slides:
Data collection and connection