The health perspective in using digital media for health and wellness

Abstract

While most health systems serve the majority of their citizens well, each has its challenges and gaps that lead to inadvertent marginalization of certain populations. The engagement of traditional stakeholders in health - policy makers, patients, health professionals, health administrators - to address these issues are necessary but insufficient if unconventional solutions are to be discovered. Use of modern technologies to enable innovative approaches will require meaningful engagement of professional disciplines with technological expertise such as engineering, computer science, and health information science. Their involvement contributes unique and important perspectives in order to generate novel solutions to address health service quality, access, cost effectiveness, and innovation. This paper discusses the principles behind ideal collaboration between health professionals, engineers, computer scientists, and health informaticians to co-create health solutions, and cite literature based examples and case studies in British Columbia, Canada to illustrate the opportunities and challenges inherent in animating this collaboration between health professionals and technology experts. This paper will conclude with recommendations to stimulate and nurture interprofessional synergy towards success.