eHealth » Social Networking

Interview on Social Media

John Sharp — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 04:57:59 +0000

My interview by Hope Leman on the Significant Science blog just today was rediscovered on Twitter resulting in significant activity. The interview, titled ”Maneuvering Medical Institutions Through the Wild Waters of Social Media” and covered the range of activities in social media at the Cleveland Clinic. This interview emerged from my presentation at Medicine 2.0 “Hospital Adoption of Medicine 2.0: A Culture Change.”

While social media strategy continue to evolve, new opportunities present themselves. Particularly significant shifts are toward participatory medicine and e-patients. As noted previously, I will continue to post about participatory research and the lethal lag time in research which may only change from patient-initiated advocacy.

Thanks again to all who have read the interview and follow this blog and my twitter posts.

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Managing an Online Reputation

John Sharp — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 06:59:00 +0000

Bertalan Meskó of Webicina.com has long recommended building an online reputation. It is worth evaluating one’s online reputation from time to time. Recently I discovered a few more places worthy of note:

Quoted as endorsing Health 2.0 Advisors, which I do
Listed in Twitter Doctors, Medical Students and Medicine related under Health Research and Health 2.0
Approach 300 connections on LinkedIn
HIMSS 2009 Payer Symposium presentation on the Digital Consumer
Soon to be listed on the Healthcare New Media Marketing Conference
Slide Share with two slide shows – 1700 and 2600 views (will be adding more soon)
7th on Google search for eHealth
HIMSS award
Twitter Account – only 107 followers – I am selective
My department website

There are probably others I am not recalling right now but I will continue to build on this foundation. I encourage others to assess their online reputation or get help with it from someone like Bertalan.

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The State of Physician Social Networks

John Sharp — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 07:28:00 +0000

In a new report from Manhattan Research discusses the adoption of social networks by physicians. Clearly there is growth in the number of these networks available which potentially dilutes their impact. The survey showed about 60% of physicians were interested in social networks and 40% not. Sermo and Medscape Physician Connect have 100,000 each but it is unclear how many of these are duplicates or active users. With any social network, the effectiveness can be measured by the activity rather than shear numbers of members.
Participating members were more likely to be:

primary care physicians;
female;
Own a PDA or smartphone;
Go online during or between patient consultations; and
slightly younger than the average physician.

To me, the most unique finding is that the participation of female physicians. I haven’t heard any previous report focusing on female physician participation on social networks. This topic is worth more research.

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Twitter for Healthcare

John Sharp — Sun, 18 Jan 2009 06:11:00 +0000

Phil Baumann has posted 140 uses of Twitter for healthcare. He does preface the list with challenges including privacy and the oath to do no harm. Yet his main point is the true potential for innovation using microblogging in healthcare.
It reminded me that my hospital has used text paging actively for years through the phone directory lookup, anyone can send a text page. But with the growing pervalence of smart phones, email and twitter are becoming more prevalent.

Two-way paging never caught on. The transition to smart phones has mostly meant a greater dependence on email. How to make the shift to Twitter’s possibilities in an organization that blocks YouTube and Facebook? As with blogs, the innovation will need to be outside of the official channels with individuals as champions on new technology by demonstrating its usefulness.

Perhaps I’m as optimistic as Phil. The outcome remains to be seen.

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Hospital Social Networking

John Sharp — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 07:53:00 +0000

Ed Bennett of the University of Maryland has put together a very comprehensive list of social networking sites hosted by hospitals including their use Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. YouTube looks like the most common but many are moving forward with Twitter. Some have clearer strategies with Twitter and other Web 2.0 tools than others. Most are using Twitter for health advice, others as an abbreviated version of press releases. It remains to be seen where this will go in the future – how it might be used in emergency communication (MD Anderson during the hurricane) or employee communication.

Once hospitals begin to really exploit smart phones, the possibilities are endless except for the limitation of paying attention to patients first.

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Social Media Works

John Sharp — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 06:37:00 +0000

In a posting on WebScope, Marc Needham reports on “Whys Social Media Works.” Examples include companies monitoring Twitter to respond to customer complaints, companies like Scripps creating Facebook identities, others using YouTube for “Human Resources promotional material to physician interviews.” He sees the future as pursuing social media optimization and syndication opportunities rather than search engine optimization.

All organizations including health care organizations, need to join the social networking and Web 2.0 awareness and exploit these communication tools.

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Beyond Health 2.0 Hype – How Clinicians Find Value

John Sharp — Sat, 11 Oct 2008 01:46:00 +0000

There are many Web 2.0 applications but a few which can benefit physicians directly are:

RSS feeds from their favorite medical journals or news sources. The ability to scan many article titles quickly for those of interest can help them sort through medical information overload. Using an RSS feed from a Medline search is another way to bring in the latest publications on specific topics of interest.
Social networking among physicians. Within3.com has the best product, I think. They have a private network with private or public groups which allow discussion and profiles for physicians and other healthcare professionals using real names instead of screen names. And they don’t sell their information. Can be used for case consultation or to get introduced to other physicians who may help with a difficult diagnosis or treatment.
Google Maps and other mashups. Can be specifically to map disease outbreaks.

This are just a few places clinicians can start. More to follow.

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Social Networking for Research

John Sharp — Fri, 12 Sep 2008 01:13:00 +0000

Clinical or basic research can both benefit from social networking. Especially in clinical research when multicenter studies are being managed throughout the country or internationally, social networking tools have the potential to enhance communication in a closed environment. Harvard has launched Catalyst which has several helpful features including publications from PubMed.

A more advanced tool is Within3.com which provides several different customizable modules which can be used to develop any physician or research group but because it takes place in the context of a closed network, the site can be a gathering place for clinical trial coordination. Moving beyond fax, email and even conference calls, new Web 2.0 communication tools can enhance the collaborative work of clinical trials and other clinical research across the street or the ocean. My prediction is that social networking and other Web 2.0 tools will become best practices in clinical research collaboration.

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Risks of Health 2.0

John Sharp — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 06:19:00 +0000

From the Medicine 2.0 Congress, Neil Versel discusses how “Health 2.0 also can open up organizations to embarrassment or possibly even legal liability when it comes to interaction between patients and practitioners.” Whether it is poor judgment on Facebook or discussing patients on a blog, the openness of Web 2.0 tools can create risks for organizations. However, those risks can be exaggerated. Should organizations have policies about blogging and networking outside of work? Only to the extent that it places the company in a bad light. Otherwise, have at it.

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Two Social Networking Terms

John Sharp — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 07:24:00 +0000

In the NY Times Magazine this week, there is an article titled, I’m So Totally, Digitally Close to You. Two terms to remember:

ambient awareness
parasocial relationship

Read on.

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