Do you also forget half of what the doctor said as soon as you step outside? You are not alone. To combat this ‘medical blackout’, general practitioners can now send you digital medical information after your visit. This means you no longer have to Google — with all the scary results that entails — but you will receive reliable information from your doctor straight to your digital mailbox. Although for the time being it still depends on the software your doctor uses.
Ann De Nil
Journalist at HLN
Source: Belga
The new tool should prevent important explanations from being lost, better inform patients and help reduce the pressure on primary care.
This is a collaboration between the Belgian Center for Evidence-Based Medicine (Cebam) and Health and Science, with support from the King Baudouin Foundation, the government and RIZIV. The information is based on a database with data on about a thousand conditions, which account for the majority of complaints in general practice.
To trust
“Research shows that more than half of the information given by the doctor has already been forgotten when the patient leaves the consultation,” says Patrik Vankrunkelsven, director at Cebam. “With this application we want to better equip the patient to deal with his illness or health.” According to him, trust in the GP is crucial: “If he provides the right information, that is a strong motivator to actually read it.”
Patients can read correct information at home, which prevents them from getting lost in incorrect online information and can reduce unnecessary consultations.
Helena
The application is integrated into the CareConnect software program. After making a diagnosis, doctors can forward patient information with just a few clicks via Helena, the secure digital mailbox for medical documents.
According to Vankrunkelsven, this also offers more peace of mind for doctors. “Patients can read correct information at home, which prevents them from getting lost in incorrect online information and can reduce unnecessary consultations. We hope that better informing patients will reduce the pressure on primary care,” it said.
Important limitation
Domus Medica reacts cautiously positively but points out limitations. “Every measure that strengthens health literacy is important,” says chairman Maaike Van Overloop. “But almost one in two GPs does not work with CareConnect. We hope that it will soon become more widely available in all software and that the impact will be thoroughly investigated.”
