Are there any dangers to being an engaged patient?
Having too much, and sometimes incorrect, information, says David Daly, Head of Oncology, Life Technologies, can be a danger for today's engaged patient. The resources available to a patient through the internet should be paired with expert advice.
Transcript
The last thing an oncologist wants is for a cancer patient to come in and say, look, I saw on Google this, that, and the other thing.
That's what I want. [MUSIC PLAYING]
Today, What do you do? The first thing when a doctor tells you you have some sort of ailment-- the first thing we do is we run to the internet.
We google something and we think that's fact. And really, a lot of what's on the internet
isn't necessarily fact. So the responsible thing to do is for companies like Life Technologies to build patient-facing databases, but managed
by physicians so that physicians can prescribe to their patients access to these databases, where it's providing accurate
information relative to the condition that they have, the treatment options that are truly available to them, what to expect from those treatment
options. And then further what's happening is patients are able to go into already developed websites
and enter their information as they're on these therapies, so that their physicians remotely can monitor their progress on therapy without having
to come into the office. All of that to say, empowered patients
are much better partners for a clinician. But when that empowerment is done accurately and appropriately, we really need
to educate physicians and patients to be better partners in managing conditions, especially
when it comes to genetics. Because today, not every physician has all the information that they need. They're too busy.
Part of our responsibility is to give them and empower them with that information, and then give them enough information
that they in turn can empower the patient population that they work with.
health care
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