Crystal Byte: asthma self-assessment

When the only tool you have is a hammer, the whole world looks like a nail. The world we live in today is of course, no longer a nail. It has moved on. We need all the tools that we can have to help manage this complex and fast moving world of health care.

Crystal Byte, from the University of Dundee (Scotland) 'Asthma Research Unit' is one excellent example of how technology can serve as a tool that delivers benefit to the professional, the consumer and the state. We shall see many applications of this approach as we head towards a world where the capital available for health spending diminishes at an alarming rate.

I am told by the developers of this application that they have almost completed an evaluation paper on the user perspective, and that they are in the process of analysing results from the clinical trial of the software involving over 500 patients.  I look forward to reporting on these when they become available.

Email further information:
Dr Ron Neville
Mr Colin McGowan

Health self-assessment

What does health self-assessment mean? Well, it means that patients are able to do much of the spadework before their visit to the professional. This leaves the professional to fine tune, advise and tweak, instead of spending a lot of time just gathering information from the patient.

This is what I would call true partnership between patient and professional. There are many examples on the Internet that illustrate this explosive field of health self-assessment. The applications are interactive, give instant feedback and information and explain in lay language the meaning of many terms and procedures. Patients are able to maintain their own electronic health record, monitor their condition and receive feedback on what wellness measures they need to take in order to maintain and improve their health.

The arguments are not just about economics, they are first and foremost about the individual regaining powers that may have been taken away for one reason or another. That power serves to give the individual more equal status with the professional. The mystique of medicine is fading into the twilight and the consumer shall rule supreme.