‘E-patients’ has evolved to mean “engaged, equipped and empowered”, global patient advocate Dr Danny Sands says on the latest episode of PULSE the Podcast.

And there is now a model of ‘information symmetry’ where patients and clinicians are more like ‘partners’. Which is a good thing, he tells podcast co-hosts Dr Louise Schaper and Dr George Margelis.

Dr Sands says with the vast availability of information, clinicians and patients today can be on a more level footing.  “We share the same information base. We have access to the same knowledge. It’s how we interpret that, and how we use it, that makes a difference.”

GLOBAL ADVOCACY

Dr Sands is a globally renowned advocate for patient-centred care, and along with e-Patient Dave deBronkart, co-founder of the Society for Participatory Medicine.

He’s on the latest episode talking about his recently published paper From Internet to Artificial Intelligence, AI Bots, Symbiotic Evolutions of Digital Technologies and E-Patients.

“The initial incarnation of the paper was that it was a look back on all kinds of technologies as they evolved over the years. Then I thought, what’s interesting is as these technologies have evolved, e-patients have taken advantage at every stage of development.

“Then they’ve pushed the industry to innovate more and come up with the next generation of these technologies. We have the technologies growing at the same time the e-patient movement is growing,” Dr Sands said. “In the paper I talk about the symbiotic evolution of these technologies.”

Dr Danny Sands is also known for his work pioneering electronic health record (EHR) systems and secure messaging between patients and providers at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Centre.

The episode “Participatory Medicine and the Power of “I don’t know” is available for download.