As a Physician I see all these social interactions around patients all the time.
Husband and wife.
Partners.
Parent.
Extended family.
Friends.
Everyone has it. It is pretty much universal too – everywhere you go you see these relationships regardless of culture, generation, or wherever you may be in the world. There’s no better advocate for your well being than the people who you perceive as your social support. The stronger the social support system, the better people usually do with their health.
The last decade or so has seen a rise in digitization of many aspects of our lives, from social interactions, to gaming, to fitness, and to finances, among others. Hospital systems and other facilities have websites and apps that connect them to their patients. There are similar apps that connect people who share passion for fitness and well-being. But there does not seem to be an equivalent digitized version for the majority of interactions around health – the one between the patient and his family, friends, and other caregivers.
When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, it even made this void more glaring. Because of either voluntary or mandatory self-isolation and the sudden conversion of everything to remote, the usual support systems that relied on close contact faltered. While the negative outcomes of COVID-19 were evident, the ensuing effects of isolation and lack of contact have also resulted in a lot of adverse health outcomes, which have been extensively documented in multiple studies.
In essence, there was already an emerging need in digitizing our social connections around health, but COVID-19 has highlighted and even accelerated this. Here we make a case for why establishing a digital community around you is the future of healthcare.
1. Everyone Needs Social Support
This is especially true in health care. Social support systems have been found to positively affect outcomes of many illnesses, such as cancer, cardiovascular diseases, neuromuscular diseases, osteoporosis and mental health, to name a few. A good social support system has also been found to improve fitness and overall general well being.
In human studies, low social support has been associated with physiological and neuroendocrine indices of heightened stress reactivity, including elevated heart rate, increased blood pressure, and exaggerated cardiovascular and neuroendocrine responses to laboratory stressors.
Source: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2921311/
The opposite is just as true. The lack of or inadequacy of social support translates into worse health outcomes. People are more stressed, burned out, and just stop caring for themselves.
Family-centered care and social engagement have been shown to improve outcomes, especially in the elderly, those in critical care, and those with mental health issues to name a few. Apps that connect us to people with similar passions, such as many sports, gaming, or similar communities, allow us to connect with friends from anywhere in the world and encourage us to continue pursuing our personal goals with the help of this virtual community. There is power in harnessing the compassion of people around you to improve your health, and, in turn, you empower others as well.
2. Feedback
Receiving and acting on feedback is one of the main ways we improve ourselves. It is a necessity for improvement. This is why coaching, which really is about giving feedback to someone, works in shaping up someone’s behavior.
This is also why our own community of family, friends and caregivers is important in our own healthcare because they provide feedback whenever we need them. High blood pressure? Forget a medication? Low blood sugar? We get reminders from our family first before our providers. This natural feedbacking from our loved ones and other people vested in our well-being has always been one of the most effective ways that we get back on track. It’s just the way we are – many of us want our family and friends to be well and healthy.
3. Tracking Is Key
Visits to physicians are obviously important because that is where we probably make the majority of our most important health decisions. However, the bulk of our health care actually happens outside of the doctors’ office. The “self care” that we do involves a lot of routine – taking medications, measuring our vital signs, tracking key parameters about our body, etc. For the vast majority of people, this involves scribbling down these data on pieces of paper that they show to their family or providers some time later. Information could get lost this way or if some time has lapsed before it’s brought to someone else’s attention, it could be too late. Tracking our health data is definitely key.
Wouldn’t it be nice to have a single platform where you can keep your data organized, share this data to your loved ones, and receive feedback? All these sound routine, and yet many are having trouble keeping things together. Wouldn’t it be nice to get rid of all the paperwork and just have everything in one place?
4. Future Of Healthcare
We believe the future of healthcare involves digitization/ automation of these key areas into a single platform that allows you to keep track of your health, share this information with your family, friends, and community of caregivers, and interact to improve health. We are in the middle of a tech revolution. It is time for community-centered and socially engaging healthcare to be part of it.
Want To Learn More? Check Out The References:
- https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35430188/
- https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31141447/
- https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25594524/
- https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34185753/
- https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2921311/
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