By F. Daniel Nicolalde, Project HealthDesign PhD Student – UW-Madison
We are constantly making health choices in our daily living and everywhere we go. For example, Francisco decides to go for a bike ride and halfway into his journey he decides he would like to add 10 miles to his route. First, he has to decide whether this will be a good choice given his current physical condition or if it will put too much strain on his cardiovascular system and knee injury. However, without knowing his current physical condition, previous workout history and the state of his healing knee, he is unable to make an informed decision about whether or not to add the 10 miles (see "They can't do it alone").On the other hand, professional athletes know very well their limits and how much they can push their bodies. Unlike Francisco, they have the tools (monitoring devices) and resources (people) that can help them make those decisions on the go, to make the best of the time they expend exercising and training. They have the data to push their bodies to the limit in order to go faster and for longer periods of time.
In the example of Francisco, a layperson, the circumstances are different. He does not have a team of consultants that can keep track of his vitals while he is exercising and storing observations about his previous workout sessions (see "I track my exercise - but then what"). At best, the information he stores is episodic and more often kept only as mental notes that he can use in the future as a point of reference.
Observations from our exercise activities provide meaningful information for our health care providers and useful information for our self-care and self-management. These observations have the potential to optimize the time we spend exercising by customizing our workout routines to our specific needs.
Going back to Francisco, if one of his goals is to reduce his weight, keeping track of every bit of information about his exercise routine can help his nurse practitioner and dietician guide him to a specific weight goal. In this particular case, personal health records have the potential to improve care coordination between his dietician, physical therapist, private coach and nurse practitioner in order to reach Francisco’s weight goal faster, as well as keeping him engaged in his health care.
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