Brisbane Paramedic, Rob, has seen a lot in his 8+ years on the job, but one thing he’s still waiting to see, is digital health be fully embraced by people and medical professionals. Despite our rapid technology growth, the health industry is still lacking the technological upgrades that are desperately needed on both ends of the industry.

“I think we’re on the right track, but I can’t believe we’re still using paper in 2019,” states Rob.

With digital health still not being used daily by patients and the industry. We’re making already hard-working health professionals jobs even harder, and taking more risks with patients lives.

“I feel as though being a paramedic I go through the same spiel every time, what’s your history, what’s your allergies, what’s your medications? If I could access Wanngi, I could have all the data I need in one second. I can then put two and two together and come up with a solution. People also forget things, and there are certain things that doctors and paramedics need to know.”

Easier and clearer communication with medical professionals is already something we are working on solving with Wanngi. But, what about the other problems that we could help people with? Problems such as the loss of important medical documents or forgetting important health information such as immunisations, medications and symptoms. Which can both lead to misdiagnosis or prolonged illness.

“Information is key, the more we know, the more we can add it together for a proper diagnosis to help people.”

So with all the ways that digital health could improve health care, what does Rob believe we need exactly?

“With Digital Health, patients and health care workers could have instant access to files. I could look up their medical history, like when they last called an ambulance, what hospital they went to and what the doctors are doing with their treatment. People could also look at the long term trend of their health and build up a record, then they can easily share it with medical professionals. Digital health also needs to be set out so that a non-medical person can read it and understand it”

It’s clear that digital health is the way of the future and it’s time that both patients and the health industry embraced it.

You can find out more about Wanngi, and read more blog posts here.