Patient, medication, empowerment - Emerging themes at Partnership, Day One

#partnerconf #thinkdigitalhealth @keefer007 @Infoway

Digital Health Week is ongoing and as the number of related activities and events continues to grow, one of this year's core activities is Infoway's annual Partnership conference. This year's theme centres around A Conversation on Digital Health. Although I was unable to attend, there was a parallel conversation happening on Twitter and I, like many of you was following with interest. I am encouraged that we are growing in numbers and there is a growing alignment on the patient engaging in and owning his/her personal health information. Whether it be from the patient, the clinician, the standards, the interoperability, the developer, the implementer or various levels of government, it's clear that there is a convergence on the need for scalable solutions to help patients and consumers realize more optimal care and wellness.

For those of you who were also unable to attend, the following word cloud mirrors a number of highlights from day one, including:

• Patients are the first priority and must be at the centre of any solution
• Clinician engagement is integral to achieving a common vision
• Standardization is required to be harmonized and needs to shift to include the consumer health space

Stay tuned for day two highlights and participate in tomorrow's tweet chat: State of Digital Health in Canada. Take an active role as Canadians move from patients to partners in their own health care.

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Dr. Keith W Wilson, Family Physician, Associate Professor, Family Medicine, Dalhousie University

Dr. Keith Wilson has been teaching and practicing Family Medicine in Saint John, New Brunswick for over 10 years. He has acted as consultant for a number of IT projects locally and provincially and has previously worked at the National Research Council exploring electronic personal health records. He currently is chair of the medical advisory committee for New Brunswick's EMR programme, managed by Velante. He is a strong advocate of electronic technologies in the delivery of healthcare Canada-wide.