Lack of Acceptance of Digital Healthcare in the Medical Market: Addressing Old Problems Raised by Various Clinical Professionals and Developing Possible Solutions

Abstract

Various digital healthcare devices and apps, such as blood glucose meters, blood pressure monitors, and step-trackers are commonly used by patients; however, digital healthcare devices have not been widely accepted in the medical market as of yet. Despite the various legal and privacy issues involved in their use, the main reason for its poor acceptance is that users do not use such devices voluntarily and continuously. Digital healthcare devices generally do not provide valuable information to users except for tracking self-checked glucose or walking. To increase the use of these devices, users must first understand the health data produced in the context of their personal health, and the devices must be easy to use and integrated into everyday life. Thus, users need to know how to manage their own data. Medical staff must teach and encourage users to analyze and manage their patient-generated healthcare data, and users should be able to find medical values from these digital devices. Eventually, a single customized service that can comprehensively analyze various medical data to provide valuable customized services to users, and which can be linked to various heterogeneous digital healthcare devices based on the integration of various health data should be developed. Digital healthcare professionals should have detailed knowledge about a variety of digital healthcare devices and fully understand the advantages and disadvantages of digital healthcare to help patients understand and embrace the use of such devices.