EXPLOIT THE INTERNET AND THE SMARTPHONE RELENTLESSLY
The third healthcare revolution will come out of the barrel of the smartphone
In his highly influential trilogy on
the network society, Manual Castells describes the three
drivers of the third industrial revolution as citizens, knowldege and IT. Castells does not write about healthcare but his thinking is entirely
appropriate.
Complementing the industrial revolutions we have had two
healthcare revolutions.The first healthcare revolution, like the first
industrial revolution that gave us the spinning jenny and the steam
engine, was based on common sense and empiricism and gave us t
he public health
revolution.
The second revolutions in both industry and healthcare have been high tech,
giving us computers and nuclear power in the former and transplantation and the
artificial hip in the latter. The third healthcare revolution will be based on
the same drivers - citizens, knowledge and the smartphone. The Internet, as Tim Berners Lee predicted, is no more mentioned than is the electricity supply
of a transplant unit – it is just there – and the smartphone gives citizens
access to best current knowledge.
The founders of BVHC have been engaged in the knowledge revolution since its earliest days. They:
- Utilized the internet to support Iain Chalmers in the creation of the Cochrane Collaboration
- Worked to promote equal access to best current knowledge when setting up national screening programmes (an initiative driven by Sir Muir Gray - BVHC's Director)
- Developed NHS Choices
- Worked with Neil Bacon in the development of IWantGreatCare, which uses the internet to give citizens a means of providing feedback about their experiences in healthcare and suggestions on how services can be improved
Technology Changes Culture
In one of the classics of 20th century history Lynn White argued that technology changes culture. His examples were mediaeval but his logic is relevant to the impact that the Internet and Smartphone is having and will have on the culture of healthcare.
