This appeared last week:
Over-55s may be more tech-savvy than you think
Research out of the UK shows that doctors often stereotype older patients and assume they lack of comfort with technology, a view that’s out of step with real-life experiences for over-55s.
A survey by the Organisation for the Review of Care and Health Apps (ORCHA) found that GPs were far less likely to recommend NHS-approved health apps to help older patients manage symptom monitoring, medication reminders and treatment tracking.
ORCHA reported that doctors recommend health apps to one in 10 patients under 35, one in 25 patients over 55 and one in 50 patients over 65.
UK-based patient safety advocate Helen Hughes told the Telegraph that when doctors didn’t recommend approved health apps because of ageist assumptions about digital literacy in older people, patients could be at risk from incorrect information from the many unreliable health apps available more broadly.
Intrinsic age bias in digital health
“There is an intrinsic bias generally where older people are assumed to not be comfortable with technology,” says digital health advocate Dr Mukesh Haikerwal, adding this doesn’t reflect his own experience as a GP in south-west Melbourne.
“I do video consultations with patients through our Attend Anywhere software,” he says. “Many older patients are very comfortable using iPads for a video consultation.”
Dr Haikerwal says that there’s a big technology lag among Australian clinicians, with many reluctant to adopt change in their practice – for example, preferring written or printed scripts to e-prescriptions.
“In practice, there is still resistance to take up technology across our whole health sector,” he says.
“Most of my colleagues will still send and receive referrals by fax – bizarrely, the fax machine is only alive and well because of Japanese patent lawyers and Australian doctors,” he adds.
Dr Haley LaMonica, who heads e-health at the University of Sydney’s Healthy Brain Ageing Clinic, says there is a tendency among clinicians to underestimate the digital literacy of older adults and to not consider digital tools as part of care.
“My research has shown that older adults are very happy to use technology as part of care – for example to monitor sleep or fitness – but they do not want this to replace or disrupt their relationship with their doctor,” she says.
Dr LaMonica says there’s emerging evidence for the efficacy of various digital health programs that target older people, such as computerised cognitive training like Brain HQ for people with mild cognitive impairment, and CBT-i for insomnia.
More commentary here:
https://wildhealth.net.au/over-55s-may-be-more-tech-savvy-than-you-think/
It seems to me that when suggesting / prescribing any Digital Health app. the sensible approach is to make an assessment of the suitability regarding what is being offered on an individualised basis. The will be some in their 40’s who are unable to cope and some in their 70’s who will be delighted to use an app.
In any situation it is important to fully understand the app. What data is captures and what is does with patient data needs to be fully understood before recommendation!
All in all a useful article to provoke some sensible thoughts on app. Use!
David.
2 comments:
It’s a bias that has not moved with the rest of time. Older people were in fact the target technology user 10, 20 and 30 years ago. It has become a get out of jail card for those who either don’t want to listen or can’t hear the consumer of any given service.
Would explain the poor use of the MyHR, the older folks see it as old fashioned time wasting junk
There are some over 70s who are skeptical and do not trust the technology because it often doesn't work as claimed.
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