Social Science Healthcare outside the doctor’s office
As healthcare is changing, more and more data is being generated. Still, the crucial elements are ultimately people and their behaviour.
If digitalisation continues at the current rate, the healthcare system as well as our health behaviour will (have to) be reorganised. Medical and healthcare services will be increasingly separated from the traditional places of care; digital applications such as decision support systems will become more prevalent. We are producing more and more data, for which we need to develop and implement new models to secure, manage, share and ultimately use it profitably for healthcare and medical care.
The users of digital technology – patients, medical staff and health professionals – play a key role in this process. Not only do users ultimately decide which digital services and applications they want to use, but new skills are also required that should not be taken for granted.