Article: Empowering patients through healthcare technology and information? The challenge of becoming a Patient 2.0 Journal: International Journal of Healthcare Technology and Management (IJHTM) 2015 Vol.15 No.1 pp.73 - 88 Abstract: In the mid-2000s, the term Patient 2.0 began to be used to denote a new patient role: empowered patients. Transformation of the traditional healthcare system remains on the agenda, and it continues to challenge the traditional view of the patient role. Based on empirical field studies, interviews and written material, we argue that changes to socio-material assemblages may have implications beyond the immediate gains. To accurately reflect this, Mort et al. (2003) suggested using the terms remote doctors and absent patients. Likewise, Oudshoorn (2008) highlighted how the absence of face-to-face interaction implies that healthcare professionals rely more on numerical representations of illness than on observations of patients. Through ethnographic research in the Danish healthcare sector, we discuss how this healthcare vision manifests in practice. Technologies aimed at patient empowerment change how patients are framed in established networks; the emergent chronic patient frame challenges the traditional patient-doctor relationships. Inderscience Publishers - linking academia, business and industry through research

Title: Empowering patients through healthcare technology and information? The challenge of becoming a Patient 2.0

Authors: Søsser Brodersen; Hanne Lindegaard

Addresses: Center for Design, Innovation and Sustainable Transitions, Department of Development and Planning, Aalborg University Copenhagen, A.C. Meyers Vænge 15, 2450 Copenhagen SV, Denmark ' Center for Design, Innovation and Sustainable Transitions, Department of Development and Planning, Aalborg University Copenhagen, A.C. Meyers Vænge 15, 2450 Copenhagen SV, Denmark

Abstract: In the mid-2000s, the term Patient 2.0 began to be used to denote a new patient role: empowered patients. Transformation of the traditional healthcare system remains on the agenda, and it continues to challenge the traditional view of the patient role. Based on empirical field studies, interviews and written material, we argue that changes to socio-material assemblages may have implications beyond the immediate gains. To accurately reflect this, Mort et al. (2003) suggested using the terms remote doctors and absent patients. Likewise, Oudshoorn (2008) highlighted how the absence of face-to-face interaction implies that healthcare professionals rely more on numerical representations of illness than on observations of patients. Through ethnographic research in the Danish healthcare sector, we discuss how this healthcare vision manifests in practice. Technologies aimed at patient empowerment change how patients are framed in established networks; the emergent chronic patient frame challenges the traditional patient-doctor relationships.

Keywords: patient empowerment; Patient 2.0; self-management; future healthcare systems; healthcare practices; healthcare management; healthcare technology; ethnography; Denmark; chronic patients; chronic disease; patient-doctor relationships.

DOI: 10.1504/IJHTM.2015.070518

International Journal of Healthcare Technology and Management, 2015 Vol.15 No.1, pp.73 - 88

Received: 04 Oct 2013
Accepted: 31 Oct 2014
Published online: 09 Jul 2015 *

Full-text access for editors Full-text access for subscribers Purchase this article Comment on this article

Title: Empowering patients through healthcare technology and information? The challenge of becoming a Patient 2.0

Keep up-to-date