Patient-generated data come with opportunities, challenges

The DCRI’s Satasuk Joy Bhosai, MD, MPH, recently discussed the future of data-driven care.

With new wearable devices and apps entering the market every day, many clinicians have seen a proliferation of patient-generated data. In her role as chief of digital health and strategy at the DCRI, Satasuk Joy Bhosai, MD, MPH, spends her time thinking through the opportunities and challenges this data brings to clinical research. Bhosai recently shared her insights at a Duke Mobile App Gateway event.

On one hand, Bhosai said, the new age of connected health presents a way for clinicians to observe and communicate with their patients in ways they never have before. This can be beneficial because it allows clinicians to get a sense of how patients experience their condition outside of a clinical setting.

Conversely, the flood of new information means clinicians will have to sift through vast datasets to find the specific data points that are both relevant and actionable. They will also have to account for differences in individual patients when assessing the data’s clinical relevance.

Still, Bhosai said, she is confident that researchers will be able to think through these challenges and that patient-generated data will lead to new discoveries and the advancement of clinical research.

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