ICT and patient roles; contradictions in e-health policy

Patient oriented information and communication technologies (ICT), often labelled e-health, are on the rise in European health care. How does this affect patient roles? On the one hand e-health is argued to stimulate an active empowered patient, but on the other recent empirical studies link e-health to the survival of a passive compliant patient role. In this study of secondary sources 20 e-health policy and related documents from the European Union were investigated to identify dominant conceptualizations of the patient role in e-health policy. The findings highlight how the policy rhetoric on patient involvement through e-health relies on the aspects of information and consumerism, and that this rhetoric, paradoxically, has the unintended effect of strengthening the opposing ideal of the compliant patient. The study aims to open for a broader discussion on the potential and limitations of e-health in future patient care and treatment.

► Conflicting patient—ideals exist in current e-health policy and academic debate on patient oriented e-health tools. ► Conceptualisations of the patient—e-health relationship remain too restricted by a discourse on health consumerism. ► In e-health policy the patients' problem is presented as lack of information and involvement in medical decision making. ► From a patient perspective e-health can represent care and feelings of safety in everyday life. ► Wider underlying perspectives should be included when discussing the potential and limitations of e-health in policy and practice.