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Tromsø Telemedicine and eHealth Conference 2006:
In 2026, the eHealth user goes virtual
-As adults, in 2026, they will be linked to a transparent multidimensional data web, in which they create data and receive data in return. They will establish their own virtual lives, which they live in parallel with real life. What will they require and expect of the public health service and other health services, and how will their relationship to doctors and health professionals develop?
Dr. Wendy Schultz presented several possible scenarios for 2026 during the first day of TTeC2006, the Tromsø Telemedicine & eHealth Conference.
The eHealth user
The future "user" of the health service is an eHealth user, and cannot be described by studying today's eHealth user seen in isolation. Nor can we describe eHealth users on the basis of their position in today's E-health sphere and the public health service. We need to introduce factors from demographics, lifestyle, art and games, technology, science, politics, the surroundings and the economy to obtain more realistic pictures of the future.
Virtual reality
Futurist Wendy Schultz presented a probable scenario for 2026:
-The eHealth user in 2026 is a child of her age. Her life is tailored to her own wishes and needs. She lives in a virtual reality with role play, participates in network games and creates her own films and games. She works where she expects rapid and great satisfaction, constantly changes jobs, and expects rewards around the clock. She is a digital human in a dream society. She has created several identities for different situations.
-Open-source technology has made her a member of the "participating generation" with an open-source mindset. A high-speed wireless network is universal, and has created a graphic environment. A nanochip implanted in her brain works wonders, and has turned technotelepathy into reality. Genetically personalized DNA computers regulate the release of biochemical substances in her body. She wants multisensory experiences, but the computers are also used to release pain-relieving substances, or insulin if she has diabetes. Round-the-clock access to the health service wherever she may be is a matter of course for her.
Second life
Dr. Wendy Schultz paints a picture of the future health service that will develop based on the needs and demands that today's children will have. They will want treatment wherever they happen to be at any time, provided in an intelligent way and in their own homes. Self-diagnosis will be common; even self-managed regeneration of organs in the body may be possible. If necessary, virtual experiences will be adapted to relieve pain.
Today it is already possible to live a "second life", a virtual life in parallel with your real life. You can be the person you want to be, or do things that you do not get the chance to do in your everyday life. Wendy Schultz illustrated this with the example of a woman who wants to be Rockefeller and who today owns virtual properties worth millions. Another example is a man who lives a "second life" as a cartoon character.
Must understand the past
Dr Schultz is the director of Infinite Futures, a research and study centre in the United Kingdom which creates scenarios, that is, possible sequences of events in the future. Schulz and her colleagues do not do this using guesswork, speculation, crystal-ball gazing or astrology. Nor can they apply the classic scientific methods such as extrapolation of historic and current data.
-We do not live in a closed linear space; life is chaotic and unpredictable. But by understanding the dynamics of the past and the present and combining this with new phenomena and new interdisciplinary approaches, we arrive at alternative possible views of the future. On this basis we can describe a probable future, and we can be involved in influencing the development of the future that we want the most. Our approach is a five-step method: mapping changes; describing and criticizing the consequences; interpreting and understanding the differences; creating the most probable scenarios; planning and creating change (vision), explains Wendy Schultz.
Figure: - "When the children of today become health service users, they will demand treatment wherever they are, including at home, at any time, provided in an intelligent way," said futurist Wendy Schultz in a scenario of 2026
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Photo: Jarl-Stian Olsen
Facts about TTeC 2006:
The Tromsø Telemedicine and eHealth Conference took place from 12-14 June 2006.
This was the sixth time that the Norwegian Centre for Telemedicine in Tromsø organized the conference, which this year gathered 350 participants from 29 countries for three days. The focus of this year's eHealth conference was on how modern technology can form the health service of the future.
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