Why 10-Year-Olds and Information Therapy Don’t Mix
By Cindy Throop | Popularity: 54%Last week, I had a brilliant idea: have my son blog about his first official experience with information therapy. He had just received his first after-visit summary. He’s bright and creative, so I was sure he would come up with something good. As it turns out, he didn’t have much to say about it. I proceeded to show him his newly and barely populated PHR (personal health record). He was still unimpressed. Now might be a good time to mention I bribed him with Internet access. “After you write about information therapy, you can play on the Internet.” He was in a hurry to get this over with so he could do (apparently more interesting) things on the Internet than look at a lousy PHR.
This is where I jump in and tell him that when I was his age, I had to wait for 2 to 3 hours in the waiting room to see my doctor (you know, the “When I was a kid, I had to walk uphill in the snow to school…both ways!” story). I only went to the doctor when I was sick. The doctor would promptly produce a small white piece of paper (an Rx), and that was the end of my visit. I hated going to the doctor and had never heard of prevention and would never expect the doctor to explain what he/she thought was wrong with me. I would have never thought he/she would discuss my treatment options with me or ask me, “Would I like to try medication for it?” or “Would I like to try some preventive approaches to avoid this happening again in the future?”.
Fast forward 25 years and I have a kid who does not appreciate how far the health care system has come. I really can’t blame him, though. Information Therapy is kind of like, “Duh!” It’s a no-brainer. It’s an “invention” that is so overdue that when it finally appears you ask yourself, “How have I lived without this for all these years?”.
“Mom, I wrote the blog. Can I go play on the Internet now?”
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