ABSTRACT
This chapter addresses the topics of how and why digital health technologies are taken up in healthcare workplaces and what the implications are for medical power and authority. A body of literature has developed that examines the ways in which people working in health and medical domains are using digital technologies for professional purposes. Many medical practitioners are wary about using social media for work purposes, particularly if this may expose them to the scrutiny of their patients or challenge patient confidentiality. Digitised biomedicalisation is evident in the ways in which personal health and medical data are available for repurposing beyond their original use. Some elements of digital health do appear to contribute to medical deprofessionalisation, particularly those that provide capacity for elements such as diagnosis, self-monitoring and self-care to lay people. The chapter ends with some reflections on contribution of digital health to the biomedicalisation of society and considers whether these technologies have contributed to the deprofessionalisation of medicine.
