HER Heard

Excited to report robust engagement and positive feedback so far from our beta users. We have started with a very simple app at first to ensure we only build what women want and can be very responsive to feedback for #humancentereddesign. #HERHeard #HERHerd ##womenshealth #patientengagement

Loved this TED talk on #design. It gave me so many ideas on #data visualization for seeing your own #healthdata. This is needed to democratize access to #personalizedmedicine, which is work I am doing with senior #datascientist Andrés Corrada-Emmanuel and our #datascience intern Sumit Hawal for HER Heard. Am loving the synergy I have with Andres on the #tech, #product, #userexperience, #patientengagement to reduce the #digitaldivide. Love being around those who make me smarter so that it is not 2 + 2 but exponential creativity, growth, and product development. I would not have met Andres without the opportunities and events through MIT Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL) MIT Media Lab and professors Ramesh Raskar and John Werner Massachusetts Institute of Technology MIT Sloan School of Management

Given there essentially is no #doctor-#patient relationship any longer, this is not a concern I have. “The Doctor-Patient Dance: Can AI Keep Up? human connection in healthcare is vital. #AI systems acting as intermediaries could disrupt the subtle cues and unspoken trust that doctors rely on for accurate diagnoses.” Let me unpack: In the 10 minute visit full of mandated #EHR elements, there is no patient #narrative any longer. In my personal experience as a patient, as a doctor, and as a healthcare executive, what I see in today’s assembly line #healthcare, modeled after Toyota factories and manufacturing: Doctors, nurses, nurse practitioners - pushed by administrators to see more and more patients - are already making assumptions before the patient speaks rather than listening with an open mind. Listening takes time. To hospitals, that time is money: staffing cost spent without earning revenue. Listening has no billing code. Many hospitals genuinely are losing their shirts so hire consultants to stop the losses. Turning everything into an #operationsmanagement #optimization equation is what is taught in #analytics focused #MBA programs like what I just completed at MIT Sloan School of Management. Patients are treated like widgets to move for fast, efficient throughput. Individuality of patients and of clinicians is minimized to have “economies of scale” to deliver the same thing, repeatedly, without pausing to listen, to consider, to adjust, to personalize. That’s why, in recent weeks have been working with Andrés Corrada-Emmanuel to use #data & #datascience for how to allow patients to be “heard” as our team builds and experiments with multiple prototypes for HER Heard. Rather than assume we have all the answers we are testing out various functions and using #Agile method and #designthinking to create more engaging #tech while also pursuing National Science Foundation (NSF) grant funding to create novel #patientengagement solutuons to optimize care in a #patientcentered way. The #venture seeks to return #humanism to #medicine, via #tech, to be like a “medical valet” or pre-visit medical assistant to get more of the standardized information ahead of the visit, thus free up time in the visit for the personalized care and questions that buy a doctor can answer. We are also testing out ways to have symptom diaries and journaling to allow women to speak as they normally do instead of being forced only into what the system pays for or has in the EHR. Patients deserve to be heard, not only for accurate diagnosis but because speaking, someone listening, being “heard” itself is therapeutic. We all desire to be seen and heard. It is a fundamentally human need. #womenshealth #digitalhealth #humancentered #usercentered #UI #UX #patientjourney #patientexperience

We at HER Heard know it can be hard to do self care or even to “hear yourself.” Also, as many women are interrupted or dismissed, we can start to avoid seeking care. Other times women have a lot of caregiving responsibilities so put their own health last. That is why we need #patientcentered care built for women, by women.

“Everyone’s going to go into menopause at some point or another—why shouldn’t we be talking about it?!” You don’t have to be a Hollywood star to relate: if you’re a woman in or approaching menopause, there might be some fear, shame, and anxiety surrounding it—naturally! But Naomi Watts is right. All women *will* get there so we need to put the topic on the table sooner rather than later. It’s conversations like these that are going to shift the entire culture around menopause and help society approach it with more understanding and empathy. Keep it up. Others 👏 are 👏 listening.

🩸Papcup has introduced a non-invasive, at-home device designed to screen for cancer-causing HPV strains using regular menstrual blood. This device, developed with support from the Venture Builder Incubator (VBI) at The University of Edinburgh, aims to provide an alternative to traditional smear tests, which many women find uncomfortable and inconvenient. 💡 The device offers a highly accurate, non-invasive method for testing, allowing women to perform the test themselves in the privacy of their own homes. Results are available within 15 minutes, and users can choose to share these results with their healthcare provider. #femtech #womenshealth #womenshealthinnovation #femhealth #healthtech #medtech #biotech #cervicalcancer #cervicalcancerscreening #launch #diagnostics #menstruation #menstrualhealth #earlydetection #cancer

Have questions about #menopause? ACOG is your go-to for reliable resources on what to expect, managing symptoms, talking with your ob-gyn, patient stories, and more. You’re not alone in this journey. Find the resources you need: acog.org/mymenopause

“Women were most likely to have skipped screenings for breast (41 per cent), cervical (35 per cent) and colorectal (33 per cent) cancers. The main reasons for skipping or delaying a recommended screening included not knowing the screening was necessary or important for them, anxiety about tests, lack of time or concerns about pain or discomfort.” #womenshealth #preventivehealth #populationhealth #cancerscreening

Dear Male Leaders: Can we talk about menopause? Fact #1: All women will experience menopause (the cessation of menstruation), typically between 45 and 60, yet only 15%-25% report a more severe experience with the common symptoms such as hot flashes, headaches, fatigue, night sweats, joint pain, stiff muscles, irregular and heavy periods, anxiety, and “brain fog.” Fact #2: Many women suffer in silence and 17% of women ages 50 to 64 admit quitting or considering quitting their job due to menopause-related challenges. For our latest research on systemic allyship for gender equity, David Smith and I spoke with Michelle Travis, the author of this excellent Forbes piece on the topic. We learned that: -Menopause can trigger both sexist and ageist bias about women’s leadership. -Women face false assumptions that menopausal symptoms = diminished competence -Discrimination occurs when menopausal women are unsupported and forced out of employment. -Though talking about menopause and receiving temporary accommodations can be a relief, too many women remain silent for fear of the associated stigma. What can inclusive leaders do to avoid seeing these talented women walk out the door at the height of their careers? Here are some of our favorite tactics from Michelle Travis: ✅ Don’t assume. Unlike childbirth, which requires more predictable accommodations, the range in symptom severity during menopause is substantial. ✅ Ask women who share about menopausal challenges what they need. “What accommodations would be most helpful?” ✅ Normalizing and publicizing menopause-supportive policies improves your brand and helps you recruit and retain top talent. ✅ Audit your medical benefits. Not all health insurance plans cover menopause treatments, including hormone replacement therapy. Getting this right is a competitive advantage. Few of us bat an eye when a male colleague in this age range requires support and accommodation for heart disease or prostate problems, let’s be equally thoughtful when a few of our colleagues who are women require accommodation during menopause. #genderbalance #genderequity #genderequality #womenleaders #womeninbusiness #inclusiveleadership #menasallies #workplaceallies

The gender health gap has a "profound impact" on working women in Canada, new research has found. https://lnkd.in/ekcNeBTa SunLife Helena Pagano Marie-Chantal Côté, MBA, ASC #health #womenshealth #reproductivehealth #hormonalhealth #mentalhealth #wellbeing #workplace #workplacewellbeing #gendergap