POST-PANDEMIC HEALTH COMMUNICATION:

Adoption of digital technologies in health care by residents of Mumbai Rashmi Pandey

Abstract

Digitalization has become an important part of human lives that occurs in many fields, ranging from education to Health care. Digital technologies are one of the priorities in the development of the healthcare sector worldwide. During the COVID-19 pandemic, patients became more engaged about medical communication and used digital technologies than ever. Health professionals started using
more online/digital platforms for providing prescriptions to the patients, checking patients’ report. This paper is aimed at examining various forms of digital platforms on health care, which is used by patients for consultation with health professionals. This study is an exploratory observational study in which researcher conducted a semi-structured interviews in Mumbai suburban housing society. The
objectives were to understand nature of health communication post pandemic, perception of family about health and which digital platforms they are using? How are digital platforms being helpful in day-to-day life ? Study found that majority of respondents still using an online option of consultation with their doctors, pharmacy and lab investigation. The reasons for using digital platforms in spite of scope for physical outreach are time, money and energy savings. They visit hospital or doctor’s clinic in emergency or on unavoidable situations. It was also found that some organizations who pays medical benefits to their staff, they also started collecting medical prescriptions via WhatsApp. The study emphasizes the importance of digital platform, time and health communication in post pandemic world. Majority respondent were satisfied with the digital platforms and would like to continue in the
future. Among all digital platforms “WhatsApp” was most popular and used, which is still getting used in India. The respondents had significant impact by the use of digital platforms. Although some respondents showed concern related to data privacy. This also indicate shift from oral, face to face communication to mediated digital communication in Asian societies.