Consumer Empowerment in Health Care Amid the Internet and Social Media

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.soncn.2011.04.002Get rights and content

Objectives

Consumer empowerment in health and rapid change in health information and communication technologies have their roots in broader social trends. This article reviews the activities at the intersection of consumer empowerment and technology.

Data Sources

Technical reports, white papers, books, journal articles, and Web sites.

Conclusion

Social trends are visible in the integration of information and communication technologies into health care, in both searching for and sharing information on the Internet, in the use of social media to create new types of interactions with family, providers, and peers, and in the e-patient, who integrates these new roles and new technologies.

Implications for Nursing Practice

Changes in both patients and technology will impact oncology nursing practice as new, patient-centered, interactions emerge.

Section snippets

Consumer Empowerment in Health

Why have patients become consumers? When did consumer activism and consumer empowerment gain traction in health care? Consumer empowerment in health care parallels broader trends of consumer empowerment in society. Over the past 50 years the consumer movement has evolved from the protection of consumers to advocacy of the idea that informed consumers should not be the “targets” of marketers, but should help to shape markets with a strong and coordinated voice. The global consumer movement

New ICTs

The IBM PC was introduced 30 years ago, in 1981, and the intervening three decades have seen significant changes in every aspect of ICTs. The PC was a significant breakthrough in moving basic information management tools, such as computerized document creation and management, from the Information Technology department ro the desktop, and then from the work environment into the home. Personal information could be managed with reasonably polished tools and in a personally controlled environment,

Integration of ICT into Health Care

ICTs have made their way broadly into the practice of health care, in many ways that are institution- and provider-centered. Several articles in this journal issue describe cancer-specific interventions. Patient monitoring equipment, medication management systems, messaging and voice communication systems, electronic medical records (EMR), and administrative systems all have had impact on the practice of nurses and other providers. ICTs have also been used to develop patient-centered

New Models for Patient Interaction

It is evident that the information available to patients, and the way they interact with that information, with their providers, and with each other, has changed dramatically since digital communication has become commonplace. The extent of that change has been so dramatic that it makes sense to separate the “traditional” patient-centered uses of the Internet from the emergence of social media and the technology-enabled patient.

Conclusion

Health care is at the point where new paradigms are evident to patients and their families, to health care providers and delivery organizations, and to the government and foundations that shape the system. While consumer empowerment and changing technologies have been presented as exciting, and inevitable, there remains skepticism about the feasibility, value, and future of new technologies, especially in the elderly. In 2006, Lober et al94 explored barriers to the use of a PHR by an elderly

William B. Lober, MD: Associate Professor, Schools of Nursing, Medicine, and Public Health, University of Washington, Seattle, WA.

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    William B. Lober, MD: Associate Professor, Schools of Nursing, Medicine, and Public Health, University of Washington, Seattle, WA.

    Janine L. Flowers, BS: Program Manager, Clinical Informatics Research Group, School of Nursing, University of Washington, Seattle, WA.

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