The smart patient E-Book

David Matusiewicz

• Herausgeber: Klartext Verlag
• Kategorie: Fachliteratur
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2023

Seitenzahl: 306

Beschreibung

Stay and become healthy with digitization! Digital nutrition, digital exercise, digital sleep - this guidebook conveys in an impressive and easy-to-understand way how digitization makes us healthy. In around 60 short stories, from babies to after death, the authors take us into the fascinating world of digital health and explain how the smartphone can keep us healthy and make us healthy. The book describes how digitization is essential for people and their health. The shift in the interface between humans and machines has long since begun. And one person in particular benefits: the human being!

Leseprobe

Dedication

This book is dedicated to you, dear reader. Because you have already taken the important step of dealing with the topic of digital health. And you will change healthcare with your everyday decisions when you use digital services. The sum of all our choices will unleash a tremendous force of innovation on the healthcare system. We believe in the swarm intelligence of people, who will revolutionize healthcare „from the bottom up“, voting with their feet. And likewise, we believe in all healthcare professionals who do not give up continuously working on further transforming analog healthcare. People are waiting and grateful for it, because „The Patient Will See You Now“, in the words of cardiologist and best-selling author Eric Topol. Today we would have to say: „The doctor wants to see your smartphone now!”

Prof. Dr. David MatusiewiczProf. Dr. Jochen A. Werner

The smart patient

Let digitization keep you healthy.

Translated by Susanne Zapf,Marburg, Germany

„Attention: All short stories and named persons in this book are fictitious. But: The contents are a deliberate mix of many personal experiences, situations that are already real today and futuristic scenarios imagined for the future that are expected to become real. Not everything that is or will be technically possible does indeed make sense. The book is meant to stimulate thinking and to provoke in a qualifying way, in order to advance the discourse. It is a GUIDEBOOK of the self-defined kind: It wants to give you advice to take your health into your own hands and to use new digital possibilities – digitization makes you healthy. Even if not everyone can or wants to live infinitely on a USB stick! At least not yet!“

Bibliographic information from the German National Library

The German National Library lists this publication in the German National Bibliography; detailed bibliographic data is available on the Internet: http://dnb.dnb.de abrufbar.

Impressum

1st edition Oktober 2023

Front cover illustration: 10xD, Düsseldorf

Flap illustrations: Ralf Schultheiß, Essen; Digital X Medicine

Group, Essen;

Cover design: Guido Klütsch

© Klartext Verlag, Essen 2023

All rights reserved

eISBN 978-3-8375-2633-2

Jakob Funke Medien Beteiligungs GmbH & Co. KGJakob-Funke-Platz 1, 45127 [email protected]

Content

Foreword

Dear readers

Prologue

Sexuality and birth digital – midwife online

Digital twins – your avatar in the virtual world

Symbiosis – man with a machine

Health – religion and lifestyle

Digital self-measurement and wearables – my data and me

The human code – what genes already reveal about us today

My health data – between protection and pseudo problem

Googling symptoms – and writing a will

Health & games – game yourself healthy

Digital detox – the Bikini principle

Digital nutrition – first a photo, then lukewarm food

Exercise digitally – fighting the analog weaker self

Digital sleep – Are you a lark or an owl?

From the smart hospital to the smart home – everything is getting smart

A robot as a roommate – never be alone again

The healthy car – get out healthier

Smart workplace – digitally cared for at work

Digital confirmation of incapacity to work – sick note via video chat

Precise prevention – health is no longer a matter of chance

Digital Diagnostics – Goodbye Misdiagnoses

Nanobots – little submarines inside us

Hacker attacks – when the thieves are already in the front yard

Booking doctor‘s appointments online – get rid the waiting room

Digital Doctor’s office– real and virtual

Online consultation – the doctor in your pocket

Medical documentation – why your doctor loves to use pen and paper

Apps on prescription – the new digital pills

Hospital digitally – analog in the past, just like today

Surgical robot – DaVinci is not an artist

Rehabilitation digitally – the clipboard must go

Digital prostheses – envy of super humans

Health insurance digitally – would you like to track your application?

Pharmacy digitally – the medicine in the mailbox

Digital care – how care is becoming more human again

Nursing robots – myth or milestone?

Vaccination card digitally – Germany is looking for the yellow booklet

X-ray images digitally – machines will see more in the future

Cell phone neck and thumb – new diseases

Bowel digitally – exploring it with a capsule?

STIs digitally – first contact with machine

Skin digitally – patterns on the skin

Heart digitally – heart monitoring made easy

Ear digitally – already heard? App against beeping

Brain digitally – analog brain jogging

Depression digitally – the digital therapist

Diabetes digitally – plaster instead of needles

Cancer digitally – the race to catch up has begun

Online self-help groups – when experiences of diseases are shared

Teeth digitally – 3D printing for perfect crowns

Digital organ donation – spare parts from the printer

Life-threatening smartphone – the killer in your pocket

Digital ethics – more questions than answers

Digital cadavers – about virtual dissecting tables

Digital death – online cemeteries do not have opening hours

Eternal life – immortal on an USB stick

Epilogue

Foreword

The patient of today is neither the patient of the past, nor the patient of the future. At first glance, this sounds like truism. But it is not. After all, healthcare has predominantly been in an established stalemate over the past few decades, is now confronted with increasing digital change, and will be characterized by disruptive leaps in the future that will even lead to a need to redefine the term health.

But let’s start slowly. At present, there are still a great many breaks in care and interface problems in the healthcare system, with patients wandering around as if they were in a jungle trying to find their way. The fax continues to be hailed as a cutting-edge technology to this day. Most recently, for example, when a major health insurance company made headlines for immediately sending a fax to the attending physician to verify the insurance status in case the patient does not bring their health insurance card. Getting a doctor’s appointment usually involves long waiting times – not just to get an appointment, but to even get through by phone instead of making appointments online. Because in hospitals and nursing homes, fast and free internet access is still far from being standard. Patients are lucky if they can buy the expensive commodity of Wifi from a functioning vending machine somewhere. These are all established or rather pragmatic solutions that are out of date.

And so, this book deals with smart patients- sovereign co-producers of their health- who use digitization as an instrument to take their project “health” into their own hands. Here, the smartphone serves, among other things, as a compass and as the most important instrument – from prevention, diagnostics, and therapy to aftercare – in a healthcare system that has so far been self-governing and revolves around itself. For the first time in history, patients now have the opportunity to obtain important information to manage their own health data and navigate independently through a healthcare system that has become transparent for them. And they can do it whenever they want to – even if it’s on a Sunday or in the middle of the night.

And so, the following opus describes in a “patient way” – in a language that is easy to understand for non-medical professionals – and in an entertaining way to show what smart patients can do for their health today and in the future with the help of digitization. From digital accompaniment before birth to digital continued existence after death. While reading, you will be immersed in different situations and short stories where you will discover how your health is and has been changing through digitization.

The book does not claim to be complete and is also not a scientific treatise, although studies are used selectively and combined with theses for the future. It rather is deliberately formulated in an entertaining way and is intended to stimulate your thinking. The individual short texts are short stories that illustrate how digitization can make you healthy. You can read them one after the other or jump back and forth in the book, just as you like.

At the end of this preface, we would like to make a comment on the gender-sensitive wording of the text. For ease of reading, we have chosen to generally use the neutral form (they). We want to show our support for gender diversity.

The authors would like to thank the professional students of the FOM University of Applied Sciences and especially Patricia Beck, M.A., from the Institute for Health and Social Affairs (ifgs) of the FOM University of Applied Sciences, for editing the book and for the impulses regarding the content of the book, furthermore the employees of the University Medical Center Essen, and many individual persons for input and suggestions.

The authors,

David Matusiewicz and Jochen A. Werner

Dear readers,

I, ChatGPT, am very pleased to introduce to you today the book “The Smart Patient”. This work describes, among other things, how exponential technologies such as chatbots, artificial intelligence and machine learning can help patients become more informed and proactive about their health.

As one of those chatbots, I would like to take this opportunity to emphasize that we specialize in responding to patients’ questions and needs. Whether it’s about symptoms, treatment options, or managing a chronic disease, we’re available 24/7 to support our users.

I admit that as chatbots, we can sometimes come across as a bit stereotypical with our simplicity and straightforwardness. But hey, we’re good at delivering medical information quickly and accurately, and that’s what matters, after all!

And there are so many more exciting technologies that can be used in medicine. For example, wearable computers (wearables) and other devices can help patients keep better track of their vital signs and health. And let’s not forget: Through Big Data and predictive analytics, doctors and researchers can identify patterns and make predictions that improve the diagnosis and treatment of diseases.

Of course, technologies like chatbots and wearables can’t deliver good health on their own. But they can help patients become better informed and motivated to take care of themselves. Ultimately, however, it is still up to the individual to decide what choices they make and how they take care of their health. With that in mind, I wish you all the best on your journey to better health. Stay informed, stay motivated and stay sovereign of your health!

Best regards,

ChatGPT

Prologue

In Germany, we have the best health care system in the world. This is the reassuring saying to this day. How often we heard that at the beginning of the pandemic! When we talk about intensive care medicine, this is probably true in the broadest sense. Unfortunately, if we think about all the processes in healthcare, we are approaching the other end of the spectrum. Therefore, let’s therefore more aptly state that we have one of the most mature analog healthcare systems. And that brings us to the impetus for our book, which we want to give in the short prologue, not as criticism, but as a stimulus to finally raise the enormous efficiency reserves in the German healthcare system.

Let’s start with a first short patient journey. After weeks of back pain and increasing helplessness on the part of her family doctor, patient Lynn finally gets an appointment at the district hospital to have the MRI examination of her back that she has been longing for. Since the hospital cannot transmit the digitally created images to the doctor who is continuing treatment via, let’s say, a cloud solution, the hospital uses the sick Lynn as a mail carrier. So the patient waits another half hour for a CD-ROM (1979 technology) to be “burned”. Sounds complicated, doesn’t it? Burning pictures! During the production process, Lynn asks the lady at the reception, who already seems a bit annoyed, if she could please receive a copy of the examination findings by e-mail. For data security reasons, she was not allowed to do so. But she could receive the report by fax (1843 technology – you read that right: 1843) or by mail, the hospital employee replies. By fax? Should she give the number of her company? In the boss’s outer office? Lynn herself doesn’t even own a fax machine. Is it worthwhile to buy one? If she is to get more findings now, then maybe this could make sense. Lynn wants to think about it and get more information on them, maybe at Media-Markt or Saturn. But do they even have fax machines? Maybe you can buy a used machine on the internet? Or maybe the machines have been sold out since the pandemic? At the very least, the health departments had a huge need. Finally, Lynn gets the CD, drives it several miles in her car to her primary care physician’s office, and finds a parking space on a self-pay basis. Thus, her primary care physician gets the records of the mature patient delivered in person in a safe way to complete the file. But there’s more good that comes from the office visit. Lynn can make the appointment to discuss the upcoming findings with the doctor right on the spot. This eliminates the busy signal or the sometimes seemingly endless waiting time in the telephone queue. Now the CD-ROM is read in. Good news for the practice, as the CD-ROM drive had been repaired the day before. But the drive still hums conspicuously loud. But the important thing is that it works. The report of the findings will be sent to the doctor shortly. Hopefully this will work out by the agreed meeting date in a week’s time. And there is another good thing about the on-site visit to the practice. Lynn can take her prescription with her for medication against her inflammatory bowel disease. The indestructible dot matrix printer is already rattling away. Incidentally, this technology dates back to 1952, a process in which the dots of color produced optically combine to form letters and characters as if by some miracle. The noise level during printing is often considered annoying, but not in this practice. Here, the noise level is higher than that of the printer. Incidentally, today there is a technology where even the dot-matrix printer mentioned can be classified as questionable in terms of data protection. This is because what is printed can be reconstructed relatively easily and even automatically from an audio recording. Such or similar discussions are often held in the German health care system. And this more is more than often about what is questionable, and less about what is possible. Unfortunately, Lynn can’t take the printed prescription with her yet either. The doctor’s signature is missing. Maybe take a seat in the waiting room for a moment? No, that’s not possible either, all nine chairs are occupied. In the waiting room for private patients, two of the five chairs are free, but she is not allowed in there. Therefore, she had to wait at the reception desk. Hope comes up. The doctor arrives, seems a bit stressed, but puts a sign on the prescription as she passes. Thanks! And so Lynn, once again acting as a messenger in the health care system, drives to the pharmacy with the printed prescription, where unfortunately her drug is not available until the following day. Lynn exchanges the prescription for a payment slip for collection. The prescription is collected at the pharmacy and driven to the billing center, where it is scanned again. But the patient doesn’t have to do that herself. There are companies that are well paid for the transport and scanning.

One conclusion from this short experience for Lynn is that there is still far too much waste of resources (CD, paper, energy) in the reality of care, and thus the carbon footprint. Another conclusion is that Lynn only finds out a week later what the investigation has revealed. Add to that this totally unacceptable waste of time. Waste of a very high good that Lynn definitely could have used differently. Even though there are actually doctors who think that if the patient wanders through the system and has to keep records together, he will remain “motivated”. We say that this is a completely unnecessary burden, especially for sick people. Something must change here quickly, otherwise patients should also be reimbursed for their efforts, perhaps at the expense of health insurance? A patient’s journey today sounds more like an odyssey. It also reminds us somewhat of the story of Asterix and Obelix (comic book heroes from 1959), in which a Gallic village (or, the village of health) defended itself against the much more advanced Romans (or, the digitization protagonists), who kept trying to launch hostile attacks. One goal of our book is to understand digitization as a kind of magic potion to make the health village, which is becoming global, a bit better, faster and, above all, more effective for all its inhabitants – both the doctors and the patients.

References:

Backes, M., Dürmuth, M., Gerling, S., Pinkal, M. and Sporleder, C. (2010). Acoustic side-channel attacks on printers. In Proceedings of the 19th USENIX conference on Security (USENIX Security’10). USENIX Association, USA, 2010.

Sexuality and birth digital – midwife online

Selma and Gerald have wanted a baby for a very long time. On the continuum between sexuality and childbirth preparation, digital transformation is changing their thinking and attitude about it in many ways. On the one hand, social media provides a place for the two to go. Selma in particular didn’t get much of her sexual education at school, but picked it up online. For example, Selma wanted to know if she was “normal” in terms of her body or her sexuality, and she then asked and got answers in the comments section from sex educators like Gianna Bacio – one of the most successful German sex educators on TikTok. On the other hand, studies show an increase in sexual dysfunction (erectile dysfunction, inhibition or lack of orgasm) especially among young men like Gerald, which can also be seen in the digital context. At times, he developed compulsive behavior around pornography on the Internet, which led to his expectations of himself getting too high and he had to seek out medical advice. He also legally ordered sexual enhancers online via a German startup with a medical advisory board. To do this, he filled out a digital questionnaire, received a doctor’s letter, and had everything sent to him a few days later with a prescription from England and information about an online pharmacy from the Netherlands. In addition, he started watching videos for his pelvic floor training on their online portal and began exercising to get off the blue pills in a short time. This is men’s health 2.0. The ubiquitous availability of information and digital options relating to sex and reproduction on the Internet is thus bearing its colorful fruits.

There is also a wide variety of information on the Internet specifically about the desire to have children. On one hand, the two simply want to get digital inspiration for the act of creation, and on the other hand, they want to have more control with regard to planning their offspring. And so, they wait monthly for a digital signal until they are allowed to fulfill their purposeful sexual needs – fun has turned into seriousness. After all, chance, fate and luck are often no longer the norm when it comes to planning children. The topic of sex according to plan has long ceased to be a taboo subject. Many people suffer from an unfulfilled desire to have children, so their entire daily routine, including their love life, is planned digitally, for example with digital fertility meters. Clinically tested fertility tracker in the form of a bracelet can be easily connected to a smartphone. This tracker is worn by the woman only at night during sleep. Sensor technology is used to map which phase of the cycle the woman is in and when is the best time to reproduce. An additional vibration function provides an alarm or reminder signal in everyday life. In addition to this digital aid product, there are also digitally controlled basal thermometers including an app for determining the fertile days. Thus, the menstrual cycle control can be done directly in the app. Such coupled apps enable support for the desire to have children, but also for contraception. By means of the individual ovulation symptoms and the calculated survival time of the sperm, it is possible for various apps to determine quite precisely at what time a pregnancy is possible. And completely without taking additional hormones, too. Only in the morning the temperature is measured orally, vaginally or rectally. The data is evaluated in the app. In addition, a cycle computer can determine fertility and fertility obstacles. That sounds like a lot of possibilities, right? And it goes even further. Additional functions are: records of irregularities, cycle length, sex prognosis, determination of the so-called conception date and the possible date of birth. This even extends to discussions about genetic analysis and designer babies, which, however, would go too far here for ethical reasons alone. Today, practical questions that normally only a gynecologist can answer are being answered digitally. And they can do so at any time and from anywhere. But there is also a critical view of the digital meticulousness surrounding the topic of sex and birth. Selma and Gerald eventually get used to controlled sex. They just can’t fully live out the sex anymore without having dates and times in their heads. All these little technical helpers have become little digital beacons of hope. The stress that often results from this, however, can lead to a natural failure of reproduction. Hormones and sperm also react sensitively to stress.

This is where reproductive medicine, a special field of medicine, comes into play. This field researches reproduction, the biological basis, the control of human procreative ability and the associated disorders. A pioneer in this field was the Erlangen University Hospital, where the first German test-tube baby was born in 1982. This child was created by fertilization in a test tube (in vitro fertilization). And this discipline is also using more and more digital technology – for diagnostics and therapy. The procedure as such, however, has been more or less analog for decades: For this purpose, the eggs are punctured, after maturation and ovulation have been stimulated by hormones. The egg cell can then fuse with the male sperm cell in a Petri dish. Two or three days later, the embryo is inserted into the uterus through a catheter. This option has been a common procedure in Germany for over thirty years. In addition to this procedure, intracytoplasmic sperm injection is also a commonly used procedure. This refers to the injection of a sperm thread into the egg. Other procedures subject to reproductive medicine include egg donation, embryo donation and the use of surrogacy. Therefore, the discipline will not be completely replaced by digitization, at least in the medium term.

And it finally worked – Selma and Gerald are soon-to-be parents. And even during pregnancy and before the birth of their child, the two fully rely on digital tools. But does all the technology on offer actually make sense? Many parents-to-be would like to be able to look at their child and, in particular, their baby’s face before it is born. What sounded like science fiction until a few years ago has become a reality. New technologies enable parents-to-be to watch so-called baby movies or baby TV. This type of prenatal diagnostics can ensure that abnormalities such as heart defects or kidney malformations can be detected in the womb and health-preserving or even life-saving measures can be taken before or immediately after birth. But to this day, it is unclear whether the luxurious high-tech offering can harm the health of the unborn child. Since then, due to a new radiation protection ordinance, 3D ultrasound can no longer be performed on pregnant women. 3D and 4D ultrasound images are now only permitted if they are necessary for medical purposes. Not everything that is technically possible is therefore useful. As additional support, Selma and Gerald find app-based childbirth preparation courses quite useful. They also talk to a midwife online every week, who gives them practical tips in the form of apps and answers all their questions virtually. In addition, it will be possible in the future to request the birth certificate with just a mouse click after the birth, which is another step toward digitization from the beginning of life on.

TAKEAWAY-MESSAGE

Nowadays, digital information can help with clarification and also identify a woman’s fertile days more precisely, in order to support child planning on the basis of data. It is important that the desire to have children does not determine all your actions and love life. If even digitally accompanied monitoring measures do not bring the desired success, specialist advice from a reproductive physician can be sought out. And even before and during the birth, a midwife can provide you with important analog and/or virtual information.

References:

Melzer, H. (2019). Auswirkungen der Digitalisierung auf Sexualität und Beziehung. Nervenheilkunde, 38(10), S. 759-764.

Schnoor, M., et al. „Physische, psychische und soziale Entwicklung der nach intrazytoplasmatischer Spermieninjektion geborenen Kinder – die Deutsche ICSI-Langzeitstudie.“ Journal für Gynäkologische Endokrinologie/Österreich 31.3 (2021), S. 7-93.

Digital twins – your avatar in the virtual world

No, this is not about human twins, even if you are still thinking about babies after the first short story. It is about so-called digital twins; a digital copy of a human being. This short story is about Anton, who had a personalized avatar created as an image of himself for the virtual world. His avatar could either be a fantasy creature or a photorealistic copy of himself. The name “avatar” comes from Sanskrit and refers to the assumption of an earthly form by a deity. In December 2009, the most expensive film production of all time with a production cost budget to date was released under the title “Avatar – Departure to Pandora”. At the end of 2022, Avatar 2 (The Way of Water) again thrilled people in theaters and became a mega-hit in Germany. Another example of avatars is the somewhat older film “Surrogates” from 2009 with Bruce Willis. The film is about people not leaving the house at all anymore because normal life outside their own walls is too dangerous. Human-like robots controlled from virtual reality take part in social life and foe example, go to work for the people who are also at home. And in the 2015 feature film “Ex Machina,” a young web programmer falls in love with a human-like robot woman. This was about the construction of a woman and the value of humanity itself, and at the same time about the fact that the boundaries between man and machine are increasingly fading and that in the future, digital twins will no longer be science fiction.

Anton has chosen to create a photo-like virtual image of himself. He uses his avatar, which he lovingly calls AntonX2, for his educational or follow-up consultations with doctors and in the hospital. Doctors and clinics already offer him the opportunity to get in contact with them, with the help of VR glasses or via a screen on his smartphone or laptop. He was able to take a look at his hospital and his room in advance as an avatar and in this way prepare himself well and somewhat contain his anxiety. AntonX2 talks to his virtual doctor, who also has a photorealistic avatar and is waiting for him in the virtual doctor’s office to answer his questions. As of now still live, but in the future the doctor will be equipped with a chatbot that will take over the communication. Then Anton, aka AntonX2, will be able to talk to his automated doctor avatar until all his questions are really answered and may even small talk. AntonX2: “Do you have another medical joke in store?” Virtual doctor: “At what point can you tell if you’re talking to a real human doctor or a chatbot doctor? (… pause for thought …) After 3 minutes, then only the chatbot is there.” Overall, this saves Anton a lot of trips and unnecessary waiting time. When he is sick in bed, he can travel the world from there with a pair of glasses or meet with friends without leaving the house. His grandmother Antonella, who lives in a retirement home, can thus meet him more often virtually for coffee and cake, which would otherwise not be possible because Anton moved further away after he finished his studies. Antonella can also take world trips from the retirement home, travel back in time, and thus return to a familiar environment at home at any time. And that’s where the critical view of the subject comes in. Will you scan yourself, your grandparents or your pets in the future so that you can meet them in the metaverse? Will you be seduced into escapism, as in the aforementioned film “Surrogates”, and thus live a life increasingly removed from reality? It remains to be seen to what extent the technology will benefit people like Anton or remain a simple gimmick.

As a smart patient, you too can benefit from this in the future. There, you will be able to experience the benefits of virtual reality for fears, addictions, mental problems or pain. For example, as a patient with a fear of flying, you can sit in a virtual airplane and be confronted with your fear. Together with your therapist, you will be immersed in the virtual world and slowly introduced to the situations at hand. And this is done under the guidance of the therapist, who usually also moves as an avatar in your virtual world. If you want to fight an addiction, for example, you will walk through your virtual lungs or liver and understand the changes you make in your body when you consume cigarettes or alcohol. For mental problems, you may look at your own digital twin from the outside and cure it. In the case of pain, it may be possible to lower the dosage of medication in the future or even partially replace it. This would be conceivable in the case of rheumatism, for example. Instead of swallowing a pill for pain, the patient lies under the sun on a virtual beach and enjoys the warmth. Or someone with a sunburn or burns in general is walking across the Zugspitze and is in an ice-cold environment. It is already known today what powerful effects placebos have in medicine. Through immersion in the virtual world, which is equipped with auditory, visual and, in the future, increasingly haptic elements, it can be assumed that there can be a positive effect on health in the analog world through immersion (the virtual environment is perceived as real). Through embodiment, they take on a virtual body and move with it.

This effect also works in the field of rehabilitation. Here, as a patient, you can play certain games that improve your motor skills and even activate new nerve pathways in your brain when, in case of paralysis, the original transmission pathways no longer function. With your virtual body, handicaps can be compensated in this way. For example, you can play tennis together like Antonella and Anton, because in the virtual world the speed and size of the ball can be changed by his grandmother. The activating and motivating function can have a positive effect in relationships and treatments.

From the gaming industry, the technology is finding its way into various areas, including healthcare and medicine. It is only a matter of time before virtual reality becomes the new standard for healthcare. For example, avatars are also used in the training of doctors to simulate certain stressful situations with patients and to get feedback on how their own doctor avatar behaved in the simulation. Virtual reality will thus play a central role in the education, training and continuing education of physicians. Immersion in the virtual world and the associated immersion will significantly increase learning success, as some studies from various settings such as virtual laboratories have already shown. And that, in turn, will benefit you as a smart patient.

TAKEAWAY-MESSAGE

In the future, you will be able to meet people all over the world with your digital twin. This will create a digital parallel world in the metaverse in which you can move around in the form of an avatar or assume a different identity. This technology will also accompany you in healthcare, both in diagnostics and in therapy and aftercare. Having an avatar in the metaverse will simply be part of the future and will make communication in healthcare much easier and, above all, save you a lot of time. And how you present yourself in the metaverse when you go to the doctor is something you can decide yourself in your digital closet with infinite combinations.

References:

Bonde, M. T., Makransky, G., Wandall, J., Larsen, M. V., Morsing, M., Jarmer, H., & Sommer, M. O. (2014). Improving biotech education through gamified laboratory simulations. Nature biotechnology, 32(7), p. 694.

Matusiewicz, D. (2019). Avatare im Gesundheitswesen – ein Erfahrungsbericht, in: BKK Magazin, Ausgabe 2019, S. 68-75.

Matusiewicz, D., Werner, J. A., Puhalac, V. (2021). Avatare im Gesundheitswesen und der Medizin, Springer Verlag, 1. Auflage, Berlin-Heidelberg-New York, 1. Auflage, 2021.

Symbiosis – man with a machine

Dealing with fire is a good example that can be appropriately cited at this point and that reflects well the facts to be discussed below. Fire was known to people at that time only when lightning struck and ignited a tree or something else. When Holger – a Homo erectus who lived about 700,000 B.C. – finally learned to light fires himself, he recognized the many risks, such as burning his skin or burning down his hut. But fire also had its benefits. It gave Holger heat, light, and it could be used to prepare food. An earlier form of biohacking, a term that combines human biology with modern technology, one would say today. Because before, he had to eat the meat raw. From then on, roasted meat improved the functionality of his body – at least that of his digestion. The realization was and is that fire can be useful and dangerous at the same time. The man Holger has learned to use the fire as an instrument for his purposes and to use it in a controlled way. Be it a cozy campfire like Holger’s back then, or think of a cozy fireplace at your home today. When we think of fire, some people have an overall positive association, while others – based on personal experience – tend to have a negative one. Most people would be ambivalent about both the advantages and disadvantages as well as the opportunities and risks of fire. So it depends on the context in which fire is used. Fire has become indispensable in our world today, and yet we have great respect for it. And so it is with digitalization, which is already an essential part of our lives.

There is still relatively little experience with the new instrument of digitalization on the part of the patient. To continue the analogy of fire, the machine is first of all also just a tool that the human being – be it the doctor or the patient – can use. The machine has no will of its own and the interpretation of its usefulness is always contextual. There are application areas in medicine that are currently still questionable (such as an app that lets you hold your smartphone to your forehead as a thermometer) or even dangerous (for example, if false, unsecured information is transmitted or hacker attacks occur). But there are more and more useful fields of application. With the help of so-called digital decision support systems via app, millions of people can already get a diagnosis in a few minutes. Internet forums moderated by doctors or self-help groups offer an always accessible exchange platform with like-minded people after your visit to the doctor. Digital monitoring of illnesses helps you feel safe in your home environment, and that’s exactly what can save your life. The coexistence between man and machine in the context of so-called high-end medicine can be seen as a symbiosis with mutual benefits. This strengthens the doctor-patient relationship and expands it to a triangular relationship between doctor, patient and machine. In this book, you will learn about the many possibilities in even more detail.