New technologies fuel patient participation and data collection in research

The changing dynamic of health studies driven by “big data” research projects will empower patients to become active participants who provide real-time information such as symptoms, side effects and clinical outcomes, according to researchers. The analysis lays out a new paradigm for health research, particularly comparative effectiveness studies that are designed to assess which therapies work best in routine clinical practice.

"When linked to the rest of the available electronic data, patient-generated health data completes the big data picture of real people’s needs, life beyond the health care system, and how changes in health and health care lead to meaningful changes in people’s lives."

- sciencedaily.com (New technologies fuel patient participation and data collection in research)

My thoughts:
Interesting idea. But still some obvious flaws. Must be some self-reporting bias among other biases... not unlike that of patients rating doctors, clinics, and hospitals... -_-

Lessons Learned Circumnavigating the Globe

"This was the first time that I realized that my own country, where we lament bad health care and florid corruption, could be seen as privileged. No child here has to die from hydrocephalus. That day I realized that the people for whom I advocate are more than the people of South Africa, more even than the people of Africa. As I walked out of the orphanage, all I could think of was how to fix this – this country I had never before seen nor felt particularly drawn towards. In the global village, the disenfranchised of Vietnam – and of any other country – are our compatriots, too."

--Lessons Learned Circumnavigating the Globe

The most powerful thing you can do is to simply write about what you know.