Asthma is common. It can make you pretty sick and limit your ability to work, exercise or do daily activities. Colds and other lung problems can cause your asthma to worsen rapidly, so it is important to know that your asthma is well controlled and be able to identify when things are going wrong. Background A bit of background on asthma. Imagine you have a series of pipes in the lungs that enable air to travel in and out. With asthma, things like dust, pollen, viruses or exercise can make those pipes become narrow, preventing as much air from travelling in and out. You will then develop symptoms of shortness of breath, wheezing or a cough. As you can imagine a severe attack can make you very unwell, as you cannot breathe. Emergencies When diagnosed with a long term health condition, it is important to know what to do in the worst case scenario. How to recognise a problem, how to act and when to call for help. It is vital that you learn this or be able to access the necessary information quickly. Downloading the Australian Red Cross First Aid app on your phone will give you a resource that you can refer to whenever you need. (Remember if in doubt, call the emergency services). Avoiding Triggers Of Your Asthma Understanding your environment is important if your asthma is triggered off by pollen or pollutants. Having data that tells you that the air quality is poor may remind you to take your inhaler just in case. Or maybe you should take the train today rather than cycle. An air pollution monitor can provide valuable insights into whether your asthma may be triggered today or not. Tools To Identify If Your Asthma Is Worsening
Knowing how to identify a problem early before it makes your asthma worsen is vital. You can do this by having the right tools at home that can give you clear information on the health of your lungs or signs of infection. Oxygen monitors, thermometers, digital stethoscopes and blood pressure machines should be part of your new first aid kit. They will give you key information as to whether you need to see a doctor or not. In addition, if you access an online GP, the information these tools provide will enable the doctor to provide a safe and thorough assessment. As a result, you can seek medical advice quickly at a time and place that is convenient to you. Our list of favourites is not exhaustive and we encourage you to look at other products on the website and see what else may be of use. What we are aiming to achieve at HealthAide is that you are able to make an informed decision when considering what else can keep you healthy. New products and services are coming out that will help you manage your asthma and access healthcare quickly. As technology develops so will your ability to reduce the impact of any health issue on the quality of your life. Blog post written by Dr Khurram Akhter. Khurram is an experienced primary care physician and a thought leader in the field of digital health. Disclaimer: This text does not serve as medical advice and if you have any questions, seek advice from your doctor.
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Having children is a learning experience. As a doctor you feel, prior to having children, that you know most things about how children work. When I had my first daughter I realised that I had so much to learn! Even as a health professional you feel unprepared to deal with the impact of a new child in your life. Don’t get me wrong, having the medical knowledge behind me did help to manage a lot of the anxiety that comes your way, but even for someone who had a head start in knowing about children, it was a scary experience. It made me realise that for people who have little or no medical experience, the anxiety must be much worse. So how could I help people in this situation, (namely most of the world)?! Learn About Children As with many things in life, it starts with education. Read, read and read some more, but from the right sources. It is useful to find a resource that you can refer to if it is 3am and you want to know if what your child is doing is normal or not. An example would be raisingchildren.net which provides information for parents regarding children of all ages. Many parents know, as children get older, one problem gets better, but then another comes along. Learning how to deal with each issue makes life so much easier. Emergencies Next, as a parent we all secretly worry about emergencies. What do you do if your child starts choking or burns themselves? It is imperative that all parents learn what to do and the British Red Cross app provides good advice. Download it and learn. There is no excuse. As a parent you are responsible for your child and knowing how to deal with health emergencies is essential until the ambulance arrives. (Remember, if in doubt, call an ambulance). Thermometers Emergencies aside, I guarantee you that one day your child will be unwell: a cough, an ear infection or diarrhoea. Being exposed to these bugs helps your child to develop their immune system, but as a parent you need to support your child back to good health. One of the best pieces of kit that I bought was the thermometer. I was at my mums with my children one day. My mum says to me, “I think your son has a fever.“ I put my hand on his forehead like parents do, “No mum, he’s ok”. She ignores me and gets a thermometer to check his temperature. She gives me that look that mums do, “ It’s 38.4” (that’s high!). It made me realise, get as much objective information as possible. I wouldn’t check someone’s temperature at work by putting my hand on their forehead, so why would I do that at home?!! For a small cost you get a piece of equipment that gives you so much information. Is your child well? Have they responded to the medication I have given them? Do I need to take my child to the doctor? See A Doctor If a child is really unwell, you need to see a doctor quickly, but this is not always possible. Often they are fully booked or closed. The revolution in healthcare will make healthcare accessible at a time convenient for you. What many people don’t realise is that this is possible now. There are numerous online GPs that will see you online within minutes. "But it is not the same as seeing a doctor in the flesh!", I hear you say! True, but a lot of information can be obtained just by seeing and talking to someone and advice can be issued by the doctor, quickly. Online GPs will never take over from traditional GPs, but they will become part of the journey when someone is unwell. We would say an online GP service will be of real value to parents who need prompt advice. Your New First Aid Kit To make the review by the online GP as useful and most importantly safe, having the right tools is essential. When I see a child I look in the ears and throat, listen to their chest and take a good, head to toe look at them. Products such as digital stethoscopes are available which, with guidance, can be used to listen to someone's chest if they are at home and I am at the clinic. In the USA gadgets are available that will enable me to look in their ears and throat as well. As a doctor I need to obtain the right information to make a safe decision about your child’s health. The tools are available to provide that information now. By getting hold of them enables you to access healthcare where and when you need it. Getting Your Child To Sleep The final product we have highlighted is one that helps with a problem that affects many parents, why isn’t my child sleeping??! In the early years getting your child into a normal sleeping pattern can be hard. The disrupted sleep can cause stress in relationships, affect your work and generally make you feel like you are going mad. Having guidance along the way, giving tips and strategies to help your little one and you get a good night’s sleep can go a long way. It can make you feel that you are back in control of a helpless situation. Huckleberry is an example of an app that can help with this. When you have reached that point of exhaustion, simple clear advice that could help get your child to sleep can go a long way to making you feel more in control of a difficult situation.
But There Is Much More! The list of products we have identified as our favourites have been produced by trying to identify where technology can really help you as a parent, with the anxieties that you face on a daily basis. There are many more products or services available, as can be seen on the website. Have a look through and see if there is something else that you identify with, during the stage of parenthood that you are in today. Parenthood, is hard but rewarding. I was told my life would change completely when my first child was born but only for the better. This is true, but it ain’t been easy. With the right support and guidance, technology can smooth the bumps in the road of life that often come your way, when your life has been enriched with children. Blog post written by Dr Khurram Akhter. Khurram is an experienced primary care physician and a thought leader in the field of digital health. Disclaimer: This text does not serve as medical advice and if you have any questions, seek advice from your doctor. In life we are faced with challenges from every day: relationship issues, financial problems, health concerns. Many of us cope with the challenges, many of us don’t. Whether something becomes a problem in our lives, is relative and personal to us: an issue for one person would be brushed off by another. How we cope with the problem is dependent on many factors. I have patients with major problems in their lives who are low in mood or anxious. The first thing I would say to them is that it is normal to feel like this in this situation. I will give you my example. I have a young family member who lives abroad, who has been diagnosed with a terminal brain tumour and is currently in ICU. My wife has gone back to spend time with him and has taken the kids too. Pretty deep stuff. I remain here, doing a job I love but without the support network that usually surrounds me. Needless to say, I feel a bit flat - but who wouldn’t be? If I was jumping for joy, you would probably think I was a bit weird! So what should I do? What the doctor will tell you Most people in this situation will give it a bit of time and see if the situation changes. They will wait to see whether their mood picks up. Sometimes it does but often it doesn’t. They would probably deny that there was a problem and get on with life. They may be thinking that they needed to see the doctor, but would find excuses not to. I am too busy to make an appointment. I am sure this will go away. Will the doctor laugh at me? It is too embarrassing to talk about my feelings. Unfortunately, this is the biggest and hardest hurdle to overcome. The first part of dealing with a problem is admitting that there is a problem in the first place. I always commend my patients when they come to see me to discuss a mood problem, because it is really hard. Once in the office, I would often ask people about the problem, but also how it is affecting you: your sleep, appetite, concentration, memory, motivation, energy levels and maybe your sex drive. This is because mood problems affect these factors. Tick all the boxes and you are pretty depressed. Tick one or two boxes then maybe the problem is mild. If things are really bad then people may have suicidal thoughts. Once I have worked out how bad the problem is, we can work out a plan. For mild to moderate mood problems, there are 3 things that will support your mood. Exercise, cognitive behavioural therapy and medications. If you came to see me, I would have a frank discussion about all of these options. 1. Exercise I am a huge advocate of lifestyle changes to optimise health. I can and do prescribe medication but if a lifestyle change is a safe and potentially effective alternative option then it should strongly be considered. Exercise is beneficial to heart health, weight, diabetes risk and also your mood. Why your mood, I hear you ask? When we exercise we channel physical energy into the activity but we also channel mental energy. At the end of an exercise session, you will feel physically drained but any clutter that was fogging up your mind gets cleared. With regular exercise we will start to feel physically good but also mentally good. More importantly, you will feel mentally tough. Exercise challenges you and when you meet that challenge, it gives you mental strength. For example when you start exercising, you may only be able to run 1km. You challenge yourself to run 3km in the next 6 weeks. With time and training you meet that goal. This will give you mental strength and prove to you that you can deal with a challenge that is presented to you. Next time you have a problem in your life, you will meet that challenge because your exercise has trained you to do that. With all lifestyle changes, be that exercise or diet, it is important that the changes are sustainable. Find an exercise that you enjoy, (it can be running, swimming or even ballroom dancing) that you can easily incorporate it in your life, so that it can be done regularly throughout the week…..and I really mean this, for the next 30, 40, 50 years of your life. This is not a fad or a short term solution but a real sustainable lifestyle change. I have numerous patients who I have accompanied along the journey of their life problems. They have done the exercise, seen a psychologist (see below) and have taken and now ceased medications. They got through the challenges of their life. Then six months later they see me and their mood has dropped. I ask about life, money, relationships and they respond that there are no issues from this point of view. They are still seeing a psychologist. I then ask if they are exercising…...they say no. I ask when they stopped exercising, they say 6 weeks ago. I finally ask when their mood dropped, they say 6 weeks ago. Do you think there is a connection? Sometimes we treat a mood problem with exercise without even realising there is a mood problem. 2. Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) As mentioned above, when presented with a difficult scenario in our life, it can cause changes to our mood. We can become very negative in our mindset and our behaviour and it can be very difficult to change this. Having the support of a psychologist who does CBT can be really beneficial. They will over a few sessions ask you to talk about yourself and your problems such that they can understand your situation. It is important to understand everything about you from childhood issues to current concerns. Once they have a good grasp of you problem, they can then suggest strategies to help you change your pattern of negative thoughts and behaviours and enable you to find a positive solution for your dilemma. Quite literally, they try and rewire your brain to improve your mental health. 3. Medication Medication has a role in mood problems. It is something that should be discussed in greater detail with your physician. The theory is that there is a chemical imbalance in your brain that is causing your mood problem. By manipulating the chemical we can stabilise your mood. Different pills work in different ways but they take their time to work and they are not a happy pill. You will not wake up and think you feel amazing. More likely, you will be presented with a situation which would normally have caused a problem with your mood and you do not react. That is when there is the realisation that the pill may be working. Many people say they feel numb on the medication: things do not make them sad or anxious but they also do not laugh out loudly any more. Medications are complex and you need to want to commit to taking them because you will probably need to take them for a while. As with all medications, there are risks of side effects but whether you will get them or not, is impossible to predict. When you have a disturbance in your mood, these are the three mainstream strategies that can help. Working with your doctor, you can decide what combination of treatments will work for you. I describe them to my patients as the scaffolding that supports your mood. We try and put these structures in place to support your mood. If you did commit to medication, we would hope that if you did want to come off the medication in due course, then the regular exercise and the techniques learnt from the psychologist would support your mood from further disturbance due to problems in your life. How health technology can help Sometimes people cannot commit to the mainstream treatment regimes above due to a variety of reasons. This is where technology can be really useful. Healthcare is changing and the way we utilize and access healthcare will be drastically different in a few years time. So where does it fit in with mood problems? 1. We talked about the role of exercise and the need for it to be sustainable. Numerous apps are available to track your sessions, give you goals to meet and make it fun to exercise. They offer social interaction with like minded individuals that can act as a support group to motivate you to keep going when you really cannot be bothered. Wearable technology can now train you within your chosen activity much like a personal coach. All of this helps support your physical and mental wellbeing. 2. Accessing healthcare is a major problem to many people. We work long hours and find it hard to see a physician or psychologist. It is, however, now possible to see a health professional online at a time and place that is convenient to you. I have patients who are based in Australia and seeing a psychologist in the USA. Whilst this is an extreme example, online health professionals are available relatively locally. I do not believe that online consultations will take over how we access healthcare but for a particular illness or problem, it will be part of the journey. What we will find for example, is that you may see a psychologist face to face a couple of times and then online a few more times before being seen face to face once the problem is nearing resolution. 3. CBT strategies used by psychologists are available online to read through if you have the time to do so. The techniques can be learnt and applied to deal with ongoing issues. Whilst CBT is best done with the supervision of a health professional, these resources can help reinforce what the psychologist may be telling you. 4. There is much to be said about the eastern arts: Yoga, Tai Chi and Meditation. Breathing techniques form a large part of these arts and these help with mental focus and relaxation. Mainstream medicine is now aware of the benefits of these practices. Yoga, Tai Chi and meditation apps are aplenty on the internet as are online classes that can be accessed at any time of the day. 5. Finally Mindfulness is a concept gaining momentum in medical circles. The concept is that if you live in the past, you can become low in mood. If you live in the future, you can become anxious, so it teaches you to live in the present, using meditation techniques. In the UK my nephew is being taught it at school as a means to prepare him for the stresses in life. Once again apps are plentiful and it enables you to access support where and when you need it. Hopefully now you will have an understanding of the strategies available to you to help you if you are having a hard time in life. I like to think I practice what I preach and in my time of current stress I have been exercising, performing yoga and meditating to help my situation. Sometimes I really do not feel like doing anything, especially after a 70 hour working week, but as I say to my patients when motivation is a problem, “exercise is the pill that I prescribe to you”. I treat it like a medicine until I get that sense of feeling physically and mentally good, such that I start to look forward to my next training session. I have been running using a run tracking app that gives me goals to target. In addition I have been using a wearable product that acts as a personal coach to spur me to train harder. I have been accessing online yoga classes and using a meditation app to help with relaxation. At present this regime is helping me support my well being, on top of the daily challenges of life. Being a doctor gives me insight into what my mainstream or health technology options are, should things become harder. Hopefully now, with the help of your own physician, you will know your options too. Disclaimer: This text does not serve as medical advice and before any health regime is commenced, seek advice from your doctor. Blog post written by Dr Khurram Akhter. Khurram is an experienced primary care physician and a thought leader in the field of digital health. Disclaimer: This text does not serve as medical advice and if you have any questions, seek advice from your doctor. In healthcare, we are often measuring numbers related to your health: blood pressure, cholesterol, pulse rate and blood sugar. In diabetics, blood sugar is a very important reading, as diabetics lose their ability to control their levels. Developments in health technology have lead to machines that can continuously measure blood sugar levels - continuous glucose monitors (CGM). These machines reduce the number of times a diabetic needs to prick their finger to work out how high or low their blood sugar is. CGM’s are a small machine that inserts a fine needle into the skin. It measures the blood sugar levels in the fluid that bathes cells, called the interstitial fluid. The machine transmits the reading to a device that the patient can read to work out their blood sugar level. As a result they can tailor their medication (often insulin) accordingly. The concern is that the blood glucose in the fluid around the cells may have a slightly different reading to the blood glucose in the veins and thus the machine needs to be calibrated approximately twice a day (depending on the device). This is to ensure that an accurate reading is obtained such that an accurate dose of medication can be given. Getting this wrong can be fatal. The WHO states that the number of people with diabetes has risen from 108 million in 1980 to 422 million in 2014. It also states that a healthy diet, regular physical activity, maintaining a normal body weight and avoiding tobacco use are ways to prevent or delay the onset of type 2 diabetes. But what is a healthy diet? The traditional model of healthcare promotes a one size fits all approach and the advice often changes. In the past a low fat diet was advocated, to more recently, a Mediterranean diet. No doubt this advice will change in the future. Taking onboard current changes in medicine, can we apply the principles of digital health to improve your diet, to reduce your risk of diabetes? Remember those 4 pillars of digital health? If you are willing to Participate, we can try and Prevent you from developing diabetes by Predicting the effect of types of food on your body with a Personalised plan? So how can we do this? At the moment your physician can do a finger prick blood test to work out your current blood sugar level - this is just a snapshot of your level and does not show any trends unless done regularly. Or they can measure your HbA1c which is your average blood sugar over the past 3 months, but can you remember what you ate every day for the past 3 months? It would be useful for you to know what effect a particular food has on your body: if you eat white bread as opposed to rye bread, or if you eat white rice as opposed to brown, it will make your blood sugar really high. But we already know this, I hear you say! True, but sometimes seeing the numbers can really focus you in changing your patterns of behaviour. Seeing your blood sugar shoot up to 12 mmol/L (that is high) after a bowl of white rice can be quite alarming. Also how one individual reacts to a particular food compared to another will also vary. It is all about understanding your body to decide what foods are best for you. This is why it is worthwhile considering the CGM in people who do not have diabetes to calibrate their bodies and work out exactly what effect a particular food has on your blood sugar levels. This can be done with the help of a dietician who can structure a plan of foods to eat across the dietary spectrum, whilst you are using the CGM. You can then know exactly the effect the foods have on your body, be they good or bad and then tailor your intake accordingly. Calibrate yourself on an annual basis and have the knowledge to make a change before problems arise. CGM’s are expensive - I am fully aware of that but their price should come down in time. The great concern in the use of CGM’s with diabetics is an inaccurate reading that may lead to an incorrect dose of insulin being given, which could be very dangerous. Mechanisms are put in place to prevent this and diabetics around the world are seeing better control as a result of using these machines. However, in a healthy individual who does not take insulin, that concern is reduced. It is still important to obtain an accurate reading but no medication is being given. We are just trying to understand the effects of particular foods on your body. Knowing these effects accurately however, will be the goldmine of information that enables you to change unhealthy habits that may lead to illness in the future. Blog post written by Dr Khurram Akhter. Khurram is an experienced primary care physician and a thought leader in the field of digital health. Disclaimer: This text does not serve as medical advice and if you have any questions, seek advice from your doctor. Often when you go to your doctor you have your blood pressure taken. Your blood pressure is one of those vague things where your doctor gives you a series of numbers and is either happy or concerned. Sometimes your doctor is so concerned he will give you medication for it. I commonly ask patients if they understand blood pressure and why they are on medication for it, however many people do not really understand the concept. So allow me to give you an explanation. Imagine you have a series of pipes in the body along which blood is pumped by the heart. When the heart squeezes the pressure reaches a maximum number (the top number on your blood pressure reading) and when the heart relaxes the pressure drops to a minimum number (the bottom number on your blood pressure reading). This maximum and minimum number change with time and activity, so things like exercise and stress can increase your blood pressure (both maximum and minimum numbers).
The key point is if the pressure is too high for too long, the pipes burst. If this happens in the brain, you have a stroke, if in the kidneys, you can have kidney damage or if in the eyes can it lead to eye problems. By monitoring your blood pressure we can prevent a problem from happening by reducing your blood pressure before it gets into the danger zone. The problem for us as doctors is that it is stressful when you as a patient come to see us and so your blood pressure is artificially high. As a result we do not make any decisions on blood pressure unless it is taken on 3 separate occasions and abnormal. From the patients point of view you have to keep on coming back to see us time and again. I often tell my patients to purchase a blood pressure machine - this is not new technology but is certainly useful. Measure your blood pressure when you are at home and relaxed over a period of time and bring those readings in to show me. This is often a truer reflection of your current blood pressure and makes an efficient assessment possible by your doctor. Current products on the market offer a sleek appearance, portability and connection to your phone. As long as it is clinical grade and calibrated, it is good enough for me, (decisions on design etc, I will leave to you!) These products if used on a regular basis can identify issues before they become a problem. The real game changer however will be the device that is small, wearable, accurate and most importantly continuous. If we can track you blood pressure on a continuous basis then we will truly have an accurate insight into your health. We are not there yet but when this happens, I do believe those who embrace this type of monitoring will be able to offset a really common cause of ill health. Blog post written by Dr Khurram Akhter. Khurram is an experienced primary care physician and a thought leader in the field of digital health. Disclaimer: This text does not serve as medical advice and if you have any questions, seek advice from your doctor. A few years ago, I worked as a family physician in the UK. We had a system where due to there being no appointments available we would ring a patient on the phone to determine how unwell they were and prioritise an appointment accordingly. It was an awful system but the NHS did not have the capacity to meet the needs of the community. People would ring and say they had a cough for a few days, a fever, and they were coughing up mucus that was yellow in colour. They also felt a bit short of breath. So, I ask you budding doctors, is this patient sick? The answer is I don’t know. In this situation you would use all of your skill to work out how unwell they are. Did they sound wheezy? Could they complete a full sentence on the phone? With as much information you would try and make a safe decision as to when you should see this patient. What we really needed however was some objective information. With the right tools available to the patient, it would enable a much safer consultation. If the patient said he had a temperature of 38.9 degrees Celsius that he measured on his thermometer, oxygen levels of 93% on room air and a pulse rate of 120 measured on his pulse oximeter, I would be seriously worried. If his blood pressure was 90/60 and if I could listen to his chest with his digital stethoscope and hear that he had noises indicative of a pneumonia, then I would be sending this man to hospital. All this equipment is freely available and relatively cheap to purchase. But I hear you say, I don’t live in the UK so I don’t need this equipment! The point is with the right tools, healthcare can become safe and accessible. You can access a doctor where and when you want to online (Telehealth) and they can do a safe and thorough assessment of your health remotely. The doctor needs certain information and if you can give it to them, they can make a safe decision. Don’t get me wrong, Telehealth will never replace seeing a doctor but I strongly believe it will become part of the journey when you are feeling unwell. So when you have that cough and are worried about it being something serious, you get online and obtain an opinion from a doctor who then has the information to reassure you or investigate things further. So looking at your current first aid kit, it would probably contain some plasters, antiseptics and pain relief. Now it should contain:
Having tools like the above can be vital in determining how unwell you are. I would argue these 6 things would be your basic first aid kit but I also have a colleague who is in his late 60’s and has a defibrillator at home. This is a machine that can shock your heart if your heart stops working. (They are found in most public spaces such as shops or airports and are very easy to use but are rarely found at home). He doesn’t have a heart problem but has it at home just in case. It is expensive but it could save his life. I am not suggesting we all do this but we should now be thinking outside the box about how to look after our health with the technology that is now available to us. Blog post written by Dr Khurram Akhter. Khurram is an experienced primary care physician and a thought leader in the field of digital health. Disclaimer: This text does not serve as medical advice and if you have any questions, seek advice from your doctor. Today we have so many products available to use that can track our health: the Apple watch, Fit Bits etc, but are they of any use? 30 years ago, as a young child, I remember my parents returning from the local hospital having just visited one of my father’s close friends who had just had a heart attack. When I asked how old he was, the response was 36 years old. At the time, I felt that he was really old, but now I now realise that that is very young to have a heart attack. However in the 1980’s this was quite common. In 2018, how many 30 year olds are having a heart attack? Evidence shows not as many as the 1980’s. So what has changed? People have become more health conscious following better quality lifestyles: smoking less, doing more exercise. In addition to this doctors have been more proactive in monitoring certain parameters in your blood, such as cholesterol levels. If problems have been identified, lifestyle changes have been reinforced and treatment has been started to prevent heart attacks. The effect of this has been to reduce the number of individuals suffering from heart problems. Now you are more likely to hear about the 70 year old with a heart problem rather than a 30 year old. The point of me talking about this is that if you track your health you can identify a problem before it becomes a problem. Up until now your doctor may track your health on a 6-12 monthly basis. Now developments in technology mean we can track health parameters on a second by second basis. This now provides us with vast quantities of data which can be analysed and used to identify problems that may develop well into the future. As a result, changes can be made to your lifestyle to prevent or delay those problems from happening. So which parameters should we be tracking? As doctors we can make decisions on your health with information on your blood pressure, pulse rate, blood sugar levels, temperature and blood parameters such as how your kidneys are functioning or your cholesterol levels. The list is endless as to what we can monitor. The key question is what can you, as the health focussed individual or patient, monitor accurately to assist your health professional make decisions on your health. The answer depends on what your health needs are and what your health professional can suggest that is available in the market to meet your needs. This knowledge of the market is not widespread at the moment. Digital health is a disorganised mess of AI driven products, wearable devices and accessible services. What we hope to do at HealthAide.co is to bring some structure to the chaos of digital health so you and your health professional can identify which product is clinical grade (ie accurate) and most suitable for your health needs, based on scientific research and opinions that really matter. Blog post written by Dr Khurram Akhter. Khurram is an experienced primary care physician and a thought leader in the field of digital health. Disclaimer: This text does not serve as medical advice and if you have any questions, seek advice from your doctor. How we access healthcare varies from country to country but rarely do you find patients content with the service they receive. In the UK the service is free yet you may have to wait 2-4 weeks to see your primary care physician for a non urgent consultation. In the USA, costs are excessive. These issues lead to poor standards of health within the population. Advances in technology (digital health), however mean that this no longer needs to be the case. But how can we use digital health to our advantage? In an age where we like to be in control of most things in our lives, we need to start taking control of our health. Doctors are given ownership of our health but rarely have the time to focus on in depth holistic care. In an age where information is everywhere, we can educate ourselves on healthier living but care must be taken in choosing where that information comes from. We can track many health parameters using our watches etc but which parameters are really of use: the number of steps you have walked or your heart rate? Also is this information accurate? Having learnt about your health and recorded relevant information, it is important to have a professional interpret it, but how can you obtain an appointment quickly and cost effectively? Now that you have found a professional to talk to, do they have the expertise and understanding of the developments in medicine, to analyse your data and then tailor your care to your own personal biology? The benefits of digital health are reliant on 4 pillars:
We at HealthAide.co are creating an environment where motivated individuals can improve their health using the 4 pillars of digital health.
Healthcare is a heavily regulated industry that is not meeting the needs of the population irrespective of whether the patient is paying for their care or not. We need to alter our mindset as doctors and patients and only then will standards improve. We both need to embrace the pillars of digital health and in time this will ultimately improve standards of our health wherever we are. Blog post written by Dr Khurram Akhter. Khurram is an experienced primary care physician and a thought leader in the field of digital health. |
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