Abstract
What will a ‘good’ patient look like in the near future? Someone who closely monitors their health and chronic diseases with wearables and apps, and adjusts behaviour and treatment accordingly? In this chapter, we aim to take a closer, critical look at the notion of ‘patient-manager’. Our starting point is a qualitative study, for which we conducted expert interviews with doctors (Gabriels and Moerenhout 2018). The aim of this study was, first, to offer an analysis of how medical doctors evaluate self-tracking (classic and digital) methods in their practice and, second, to explore the anticipated shifts that digital self-care will bring about in relation to our findings and those of other studies. Interestingly, the patient as health manager was an important theme that arose from our body of data. The interviewees describe both opportunities and concerns in a nuanced way.