title: The medium is the (health) measure: patient engagement using personal technologies.
abstract: With the phrase "the medium is the message", Marshall McLuhan argued that technologies are the messages themselves and not just the medium. Almost 50 years later, we understand that modern information and communication technologies expand our ability to perceive our world to an extent that would be impossible without the medium. In this article, we contend that information and communication technologies are becoming the dominant medium for patient engagement. Information and communication technologies will efficiently change patient-reported measurement into much more behaviorally sophisticated information that will create a very different interaction between patients and a new kind of health care workforce.
authors.affiliation: Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy and Clinical Practice, Lebanon, NH 03766, USA. John.H.Wasson@Dartmouth.edu
authors.forename: John H
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Wasson
authors.forename: Helena Hvitfeldt
authors.initials: HH
authors.lastname: Forsberg
authors.forename: Staffan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Lindblad
authors.forename: Garey
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Mazowita
authors.forename: Kelly
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: McQuillen
authors.forename: Eugene C
authors.initials: EC
authors.lastname: Nelson
mesh_terms: D000553:Ambulatory Care; D003146:Communications Media; D003657:Decision Making; D019468:Disease Management; D057220:Health Literacy; D006801:Humans; D010358:Patient Participation; D011209:Power, Psychological; D011369:Professional-Patient Relations; D058996:Quality Improvement