Empowering patients through technology has created perfection. The expression comes from Israeli Ronen Rozenblum, director of Brigham and Women’s Hospital and professor at Harvard, who was recently in Brazil to explain how the patient-centered model can be implemented in the country.

Ronen Rozenblum, director of Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard professor, argues that social networks and APPS are empowering patients
PATIENT CENTERED CARE
One of the biggest trends in the global healthcare sector is patient engagement, something fundamental to what is considered the logic of the future of healthcare: patient-centered care. The United States, United Kingdom and Australia are currently the countries in which its implementation is most advanced. Brazil is the next target. I am firmly certain that the country has the conditions to implement the model, it is enough to create policies and establish guidelines for its application, whether in public or private institutions.
But it is necessary, as in any other country, to define policies and guidelines, understand terms and concepts of patient care centers and know the importance of this dimension of quality in care, in addition to understanding the role of doctors in this type of center.
PATIENT EMPOWERMENT
Deeper involvement of patients and family members is one of the fundamental changes to achieving better results and obtaining higher quality in the provision of health services. The Patient Care Center at Brigham and Women’s Hospital served as a trial balloon and achieved positive results. Empowering patients and their families to translate into better clinical results, greater efficiency in health services and, consequently, positive effects on the institution’s financial area.
INCREASING PROFIT
Today, there is more and more data based on reports and studies that show that patient-centered care has a positive impact on quality of care and safety. At a macro level, we know that quality care and the associated patient-centered care lead to fewer cases of medical negligence, fewer legal proceedings, and even improving the organization’s economic situation. All of this means better financial results.
IT IS NECESSARY TO CREATE A CULTURE
To improve the patient experience, we first need to understand what we need to improve communication between staff and patients. We must involve patients in care, and clinicians and providers must serve by being helpful and attentive to patients’ needs, concerns, and expectations. If we really want to improve the patient experience and onboard patients, we have to focus on these factors.
The next level is creating a culture. Create a culture that supports patient-centered care. This requires a whole process and Brazil has to follow a path of patience. Of course, it will need a process, it is not something that changes from one day to the next. It takes time to change the paradigm.
FROM FASHION TO PRACTICE
Patient-centered care is almost a fad, everyone says it, but the reality is that healthcare is still focused on the provider and not the patient. So what needs to change? Simple: we have to change the mindset of clinicians.
According to studies carried out by me and my team, the majority of doctors and nurses consider it very important to have patient-centered care and improve the patient experience, however, what was also discovered was that only 16% of respondents incorporate this model or try to improve the patient experience. The two reasons that studies found are a lack of awareness among nurses and doctors and a lack of training. So, we need to look for ways to increase the awareness of clinical staff and also train them so that they know how to incorporate and include patients and improve the patient experience.
MORE POWER FOR THE PATIENT, LESS POWER FOR THE DOCTOR
What still happens to some doctors is the loss of power. This is a reality in certain countries and certain cultures. But the trend toward patient-centered care is spreading across the globe. Whether doctors like it or not, they will have to learn to deal with this trend and accept that patients and clients have more and more power. Firstly, because there is more and more information available on the internet or in applications, and this is empowering patients. Therefore, doctors have to be prepared for this change.
CREATE POLICIES AND STANDARDS
At a higher, more policy-oriented level, countries that support patient-centered care and patient engagement, such as the United States, United Kingdom, Australia, need to create policies and guidelines to improve the patient experience. Of course, some doctors are concerned about how the patient is being empowered, but when they understand that by creating a partnership — and I love this word, even more than empowerment — by creating a true partnership, they are reinforcing the quality of care. patient care and safety. Then, the doctor will have better results and make processes more efficient. Ultimately, doctors will understand that all of this will be better for them. but we have to look at reality and consider that this point has not yet been reached. Some doctors still show some understanding and we have work to do for those trained and they will take more information. With more information and training we will be able to get there.
DIFFERENT REALITIES
The Brazilian logic is still very different from the North American one, where there is a mandatory collection and processing of hospital evaluation data by patients, or from the British one, in which the UK NHS Choices program is responsible for installing patients’ assessments. , but there are conditions to implement the program in national, public and private hospitals and health institutions.
Although the tools do not exist in Brazil, the technological interest of the internet, social networks and applications is showing the strength of consumers, in general, and patients, in particular. Nowadays, consumers use websites, social networks and apps to describe and rate their experiences with goods and services. Revolutions have recently started on the web, just remember the Arab Spring demonstrations in 2010 and all the mobilization carried out through social networks. It is impossible to think that healthcare will be able to escape this digital avalanche of evaluating patient satisfaction and sharing opinions. What patients think already has a major impact on the behavior and decisions of healthcare organizations and will have an even greater influence in the future.
THE IMPORTANCE OF STUDIES
There are contradictory results, according to a study that aimed to evaluate the effects of HIT on customer satisfaction, which is why I can reveal that we are carrying out a large study to evaluate and classify applications for iPhone and Android and most smartphones. There are more than four thousand applications that help patients manage food and nutrition, chronic diseases, monitoring weight and calories. What we try to evaluate is, first and foremost, the quality of these applications. Then, as there is so much information on social networks, more than seeing which is positive and which is negative, it is seeing which one we should consider when deciding which applications we should download. What we try to do is build a set of recommendations and guidance on the use of social networks and applications to ensure that they are used positively.
IT IS NECESSARY TO LISTEN TO EVERYONE
Information technologies and social media are fantastic tools for the healthcare industry and for taking the industry to another dimension by engaging the patient and empowering the patient, but we must be very careful about the applications we recommend. Applications must be developed in contact with doctors, patients and patients. Everyone must be heard in the development process, but also in the quality control process. This is the big flaw that still exists today. We need incentives for patient empowerment, as it is for them that applications are developed. Listening to the patient means that results can be improved, the desired results can be obtained and any negative aspects that may be being done or may be occurring simultaneously can be identified and corrected.
THE LIMITATIONS OF APPS
Another concern is linked to the focus of the apps. The big issue that exists in the technology industry is the limitation of applications. It remains to be ensured that they are designed for a specific type of patient. It turns out that, although applications are created and developed for specific cases such as diabetes or chronic diseases, certain medical conditions are normal in older or lower-income patients. So there we have a problem. We know that the internet, social networks and applications are used mainly by a younger, more educated or more economically powerful audience, therefore it is necessary to create ways to reach all patients, universally, the advantages of information technologies in the health. Patient security includes security of their medical data, that is, ensuring their privacy. Technology companies need to ensure that data provided by patients is protected and prevent the sharing of clinical data without patient authorization. This is something very particular to applications, but it requires the same care when we talk about the internet and the use of portals to consult personal information
THE SECRET INGREDIENT
Patient engagement and empowerment is clearly a key area for innovation in the healthcare sector and associated HIT industry over the next decade. Many consider that patient involvement is the “secret ingredient” to guarantee future success and two plans appear to be involved in the market and in policies: either the large suppliers are lost in the hurricane of ideas and needs and do not offer to respond to aspirations, opening the way for new ideas, new and smaller companies with lower associated costs that create what the market is looking for; or large suppliers evolve quickly and responsibly, creating platforms and tools that work and achieve what they intend, cementing the position of these large groups that already dominate the market.
WHAT IS MISSING
To achieve a perfect storm, it is imperative to bring together all stakeholders at its center. Institutions, technology companies, doctors, nurses, patients all play a fundamental role in building this model.
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