The COVID pandemic of 2020 affected every aspect of our lives, even down to our personal time on the porcelain throne with the greatest toilet paper shortage in modern times. One of the most affected areas of life, however, was in the way we manage healthcare. In many ways, healthcare has come to invoke automatic thoughts of isolation as gone are the days when we can freely visit loved ones in hospitals, nursing homes, and therapy facilities. Even simple doctor visits are a thing we now generally must face alone, and even without being in the same room as the physician if at all possible. Once upon a time doctors would personally visit a patients home, but today e-visits are common practice. But it’s not all bad news. The fact is that the growth of digital health tech has enabled doctors and patients greater access to information and to each other than ever in our history. In truth, the lack of physical interaction may not mean something negative at all. It may simply mean that healthcare is changing and different doesn’t always equal bad.
In a post-COVID survey of 500 physicians and 1,000 patients, the overall outlook and opinion of digital health tech was overwhelmingly positive. The pandemic gave a huge boost to the acceleration of digital health tech and its usage so that, today, 80% of surveyed physicians report using digital health tech in their personal and/or professional lives. Physicians and patients, alike, believe that digital health tech will improve healthcare and medical outcomes. They both believe it will give ease of access to health information, and while physicians believe it will enhance their ability for remote care, patients agree in that it streamlines communication between doctors and patients.
There may be many ways in which we find ourselves mourning for a former way of life, but for the future of healthcare, the push for digital access and increase in digital health seems like it’s set to be nothing but a positive move to progress and better healthcare.
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