By Gregory Makoul, PhD, MSI've often said that the best way to ensure the failure of pretty much anything meant to help patients is to have extremely smart, well intentioned professionals – administrators, consultants, educators, entrepreneurs, marketers, payers, providers and/or researchers – build it without talking, and listening, to patients at every step along the way.
READ MORE| By Rebecca Andrews, MD, FACP
I am a hands-on visual learner so, as a doctor, I like to draw information for my patients and occasionally join them in making healthy lifestyle changes. Already this year, I have done the 30-day ab challenge, 21 days to a new healthy habit, and started running again to support two patients doing a “Couch-to-5K Program”. So, it was an easy decision to join a fellow doctor in trying a vegan diet for 30 days.
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"Doc, I found this on the web. What do you think?" - This ever increasing statement from our patients and their family members is often followed by a discussion during which a substantial amount of time can be spent fact-checking and encouraging good web-browsing habits for healthcare information discovery.
Follow this guide to create a patient education internet shortcut on your desktop.
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So is there value in this for our patients? For me as a self-motivated exerciser, a heart rate monitor is probably a better investment. But this is not a device for the “exerciser”. This is a motivational and educational device for patients that have never learned how to exercise. For the truly sedentary patient, an activity tracker can be both a motivator and educator.