the Future of Healthcare: The informed and empowered patient
The arrival of AI chatbots will further inform and empower people in health related matters
A variety of factors have combined to disrupt the nature of the healthcare dynamic between practitioners, patients and healthcare suppliers. Cultural shifts, technology, limited resources and media behaviour have all meant that people are often better informed about their healthcare situation and treatment options than they might have been in the past. Where people used to simply be passive recipients of healthcare advice and treatments, they are now increasingly an active part of the therapeutic conversation and decision making process. Now we should consider people to be active consumers of healthcare and this has some important and interesting implications when we consider how decisions are now made and the influence they come under.
From an insight perspective we need a new approach to really understand where this empowering information is coming from. As patients have a more active stake in the conversation, its really important for us to identify what’s now influencing their attitudes and experiences. Social media, patient groups, online influencers, search engines, AI chatbots and mainstream media content are amongst many factors that create influence - so they need to become an essential part of understanding therapeutic decision making. As a result smart data analysis and cultural insight become new essentials in the insight tool kit - along with a creative an inquisitive mind.
The informed and empowered patient is also a really important consideration and opportunity for brands in the pharma and healthcare space. As patients are now engaging with a very complicated sector, they will need help to navigate and make sense of it. As a result, there is increasing importance in building meaningful and salient brands - as these will be the ones that are most likely to appear in the new therapeutic conversations. Brand building is becoming an essential and very valuable activity in the sector - when considering both the patient and and practitioner sides of the equation.
This second part of our ‘5 forces of change’ series introduces and discusses the rise of the informed and empowered patient. We would love to continue this conversation and use our insight to help you design projects that get to the heart of the the new influence model in health and then develop brands and strategy that help you thrive in a fast evolving sector -so please get in touch