Baby boomers slack on personal health details
A large number of Australian baby boomers are not keen on taking responsibility for their personal health or their personal health records according to a study carried out on attitudes towards personal ownership of health outcomes and awareness of electronic health records.
Whereas over 40% of the 5,000 surveyed by Fujitsu thought they should take more responsibility for their health records, 31% said they were unsure because they did not fully understand the value to themselves. And an extra 25% did not even want to take responsibility for their own health or health record.
The survey found that few people understood what a health record was, and 26% did not know who had access to their personal record. Less than 10% wanted to manage specific information in their health record.
Fujitsu’s director of industry, Martin North said, “there is clearly demand to provide technology to enable smarter hospitals. But it is also going to be essential to consider the community context – and baby boomers are right in the eye of the storm”.
