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Whether you're practicing at home or on locum tenens assignment, knowing what's going on in a patient's life is a huge advantage when it comes to prescriptive treatment. Patients aren't always the most concise source of information. However, there is a social movement forming that supports self-examination using self-collected data. This movement's reach is global, and it has the potential to positively impact healthcare performance for anyone inspired to participate.
Be aware of the Quantified Self movement
The ability for patients to actively record things like diet, physical activity and medication usage has never required more than a pen and paper. However, technological advancement and the pervasive use of programmable handheld computers are changing the game.
There is a growing community of people looking to get a handle on their productivity, happiness and health by living a quantified life. Not only is data easier to collect, it can now be packaged for presentation and reporting like never before.
After the office visit: What's next?
Individuals engaged in organized quantified self communities gather regularly in meetings called Show & Tells. These localized meet-up groups began as a venue for application developers and self-trackers to share experiences and make recommendations. For doctors, the Show & Tell state of mind is valuable for making slight, incremental modifications in treatment and patient behavior. And how awesome would it be for a patient to return with hard, empirical data after a modification in treatment.
Tools of the trade
The Quantified Self Web page maintains a comprehensive list of technology-based tracking applications designed to support data collection and self-examination. You'll find the usual suspects like pedometers and diet trackers, but you'll also find apps that track subjective subjects like mood, energy level and personal relationships. There are applications that monitor sleep patterns and medication management. Customizable apps like Daytum let you set up to track anything you can imagine recording.
Not every patient will be driven to collect and critically review the choices they make and the actions that fill their days. But we can guide patients who are willing, helping them to take control of their lives, their productivity and, of course, their health.