One of the most interesting aspects of Web 2.0 these days is how it’s beginning to create change in ‘the real world’. While geek-friendly apps like FriendFeed, Twitter and Google Reader get a lot of attention in our little world, there is a whole other world out there in which the Web is making a difference. One very important example is healthcare. Check out the video below. It’s about diabetes in the Internet age, but its message is relevant to the entire healthcare industry.
The video is from Amy Tenderich, who runs one of the best known diabetes blogs called DiabetesMine. In an accompanying post, Amy wrote that “we stand at the dawn of a new era of patient empowerment that applies “consumerism” to health and medical care in ways never seen before.”
I encourage you to check out the 5-minute video, embedded below. Admittedly it means more to me than most people, because I actually have diabetes. But it’s an eye-opening video for anyone wanting to know how the Internet and web 2.0 can help change the healthcare system, right now.
Not a Magical Elixer
OK, let’s be clear – the Internet is just an enabler. Of course there is a lot of work to be done to remove the piles of red tape and inefficiencies in healthcare. But it’s good to see healthcare gradually become web-enabled and the video celebrates this. If nothing else, consumers have much more healthcare information at their fingertips via the Web and are able to gather and socialize with people in specialist social networks such as Diabetic Connect. Amy also noted in her email to RWW that the Web is “changing our relationship with the medical establishment & pharma companies, so they finally view us as consumers, demanding the right products and treatments to help us live better.” Here’s the vid:
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