Integrated Brain Health Clinical and Research Program, Department of Psychiatry, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA.
Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA.
Transl Behav Med. 2022 Dec 30;12(12):1102-1105. doi: 10.1093/tbm/ibac070.
Older adults rapidly adopted technology for healthcare, known as digital health, during the COVID-19 pandemic. Older adults are increasingly using telehealth, smartphone apps, and other digital health technologies to reduce barriers to care, maintain patient-provider communication, and promote disease self-management. Yet, many healthcare professionals have maintained outdated beliefs rooted in societal ageism that digital health and older adults are incompatible. As a result, older adults have been disproportionally excluded from health services and clinical trials that use digital health relative to their younger counterparts. In this commentary, we urge all healthcare disciplines to challenge ageist beliefs and practices that have contributed to the "digital health divide" among older patients. We provide examples of evidence-based strategies and current scientific initiatives that can promote digital health inclusion in research, clinical practice, and training. By achieving digital health inclusion, we can increase access, provide preventative and comprehensive care, and decrease healthcare costs for older patients.
老年人在 COVID-19 大流行期间迅速采用了医疗保健技术，即数字健康。老年人越来越多地使用远程医疗、智能手机应用程序和其他数字健康技术来减少医疗保健障碍、保持医患沟通和促进疾病自我管理。然而，许多医疗保健专业人员仍然持有过时的观念，认为数字健康和老年人是不兼容的，这种观念源于社会上的年龄歧视。因此，与年轻患者相比，老年人在接受使用数字健康的医疗服务和临床试验方面被不成比例地排除在外。在这篇评论中，我们敦促所有医疗保健学科挑战导致老年患者“数字健康鸿沟”的年龄歧视观念和做法。我们提供了一些基于证据的策略和当前的科学举措的例子，这些策略和举措可以促进数字健康在研究、临床实践和培训中的应用。通过实现数字健康包容性，我们可以增加老年患者的医疗机会，提供预防和全面的护理，并降低医疗保健成本。
