Lecture 1 - 1.4: E-Lecture Health, What My Doctor Didn't Tell Me

Mike Kent E-Lecture about Health online

People are linked here through a Trust of Identity

Changing models of access to health online:

Intermediate:
A CME that provides a platform where people who seek can go and people who can give advice will respond to.

Disintermediate:
This is interaction without the intermediate. The contact is direct between advice seeker and advice giver.

Apomediation:
Participatory medicine

The issue of Trust
I think the question of trust in dealing e.g. with a doctor online is quite significant. Although I hate the idea of controllin everyone and everything, I am convinced that it is crucial to establish a control panel that will supervise the way that the Web is used for the treatment of patients. I belive that this is the harest part in establishing a functional E-health system.

Listening to Mike Kent's e-lecture I realise that the amount of trust required to appoint a doctor online is almost equivalent to the trust required to maintain an online relationship. Both scenarios deal with the basic human needs love, trust and health.

On the sub headline replication, my opinion is that this is not the way to seek medical advice. I am convinced that the sheer numbers of different symptoms and diagnosis cannot lead to one and the same results on every single web page. As a result, and this is what I stated in my contribution to the discussion board, seeking medical advice online can only be established between the practitioner and the patient.

The 4 Cases
Although I have a relative who suffers from Chronic Fatigue Syndrome I had to smile when Mike said that certain groups of people suffering from medical conditions get together and make their case heard. I agree that this is specifically important in the case of Chronic Fatigue.

Still, listening to the case I wondered if there is not an Internet group for people suffering from hypochondria. I don't know if hypochndria is classified as an illness, but I like the idea of an illness that is actually not having an illness.