Where wellness is concerned, the doctor-patient relationship can be just as valuable as the treatment. The bond, built on trust, is essential for proper treatment. Recently, there has been an increased number of medical apps created to simplify a doctor’s duties. Can our obsession with saving time harm us more than help? If you are interested in how medical apps effect the doctor-patient relationship, we encourage you to read this article.

Sourced through Scoop.it from: www.theregister.co.uk

The relationship between a doctor and a patient is very important. Trust is a major part of the relationship; we trust doctors to make decisions about our health that we otherwise couldn’t. Even with a higher level of education and excessive professional experience, medical professionals make errors. Doctors, often having a high workload, could benefit from tools that simplify their typical processes to decrease the probability of error.

Recently, medical management software has been produced to make the process of identifying treatment simpler. Although it’s convenient, how comfortable would you be if an app had the final say in your treatment? With new medications and medical devices pushed in and out of the market, the software is aimed to make doctors aware of medical trends and proper treatments for patients and their specific medical history.

A dangerous issue was revealed about one San Francisco medical management software company. In a recent article, Kaytanna Quach of the register states “Practice Fusion developed a cloud-based medical record management service that generated alerts if patients’ symptoms or circumstances matched certain criteria. These alerts would suggest courses of action that doctors could add to people’s care plans.” It was later discovered that the developers made side deals with certain drug companies to promote the sale of Opioids. The software was set to suggest select medications even if it was not the most effective treatment. The company is being sued and is facing criminal charges.

The use of technology, in this case, can damage the doctor-patient relationship. The knowledge that a doctor follows a specific code of conduct builds the doctor-patient relationship. Medical management software companies may not have the same set of ethics. When a doctor passes the manipulated data from the rigged software, their credibility is at stake and patients may become less trusting. Since these medical software companies aren’t required to have a medical background, they may not understand the seriousness of their actions and the direct strain this can put on the doctor-patient relationship. Without trust, the relationship and the quality of patient care will be weakened. There is also concern that increased use of medical apps can encourage patients to self-diagnose.

With intense regulations and the assistance of medical professionals, medical management software can be very useful for patient care management in the future. Currently, more research needs to be done on the apps to prevent misuse. For more information on this article, please visit the Register website.

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