Digital Health Technologies and Well-Being in the Future

Abstract

The cultural transformation called digital health has been shaping the fundamental basics of healthcare since the beginning of the 21st century. The doctor–patient hierarchy has been transforming into an equal-level partnership. Patients are becoming empowered, thus giving birth to the empowered physician movement. The role of physicians has been changing from being the key holder to the ivory tower of medicine to being a guide for patients in the jungle of health and digital information. This transformation will dominate the major changes in healthcare in the coming decades. Advanced technologies such as sensors, portable diagnostic devices, or artificial narrow intelligence based algorithms will make patients the point-of-care receiving diagnosis and treatment wherever they are. These developments will redefine well-being as patients will enter healthcare before their first symptoms arise and will need their medical professionals to design preventive plans using a huge amount of data obtained about the patient and from studies. Such changes will inevitably come with unprecedented challenges around privacy, the freedom of choice, and patient safety. This article discusses potential scenarios about the future of digital health and aims at addressing the major challenges around that.

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