Posts Tagged ‘SocialMedia’
Social Media in Clinical Trials
October 28, 2011
Today I presented on a panel at Case Medical School on clinical trial recruitment. My notes and references are contained in these slides.
This is a topic that needs more discussion in the online community:
Health Barometer – Youth Lead the Way
October 7, 2011
In an excellent presentation on the Health Barometer, international survey results, exploreing “how social interaction and technology can spread good health. One of the findings is that the Activitist in online health who use the internet for health information at least weekly, are predominantly 18-30 year olds. This is consistent with other observations, such as, the Forrester Research Case study: Radboud Hospital Supports Young Cancer Patients With An Online Community. Also, the experience of Crohnology.com, founded by a young Crohn’s survivor who wanted to share his experience with others.
Here is the slide deck:
Share this:Social Media Can Change HealthCare – Medicine 2.0 Conference Takeaway
September 25, 2011
I have a new blog post on HealthWorks Collective which is a report on some major themes I observed at the Medicine 2.0 Congress at Stanford this month.
- behavior change is possible through social medial and mobile apps
- Social media can change how healthcare is delivered in a patient-centric, participatory medicine approach.
Can Social Media Save Lives?
June 23, 2011
This provocative title of a webinar to be held next week is part of the growing optimism about the potential for social media in the process of health care. Some recent examples come to mind:
- Report from the Change Foundation in Toronto on Using social media to improve the quality of patient experience (I was on the advisory board for this report)
- An App that Looks for Signs of Sickness – Mobile-phone activity can provide a warning of disease flare-ups.
- Community Health Data Initiative – more on this later
- Case Study: Radboud Hospital Supports Young Cancer Patients With An Online Community
We are witnessing a shift from social media for pure marketing toward engagement and beyond, to changing the care process.
Share this:Innovation Opportunities Abound
June 16, 2011
A new conference has been announced by the NIH: Crowdsourcing: The Art and Science of Open Innovation. Speakers incude Tim O’Reilly and ” will focus on the key aspects of this new approach that include: how to identify problems that can be solved through open innovation; how to communicate a scientific problem across disciplines.”
Another open innovation opportunity has been recently announced called Merit Awards which is offering $50,000 on the topics of citizen engagement, defense, emergency response, entitlement reform, work force management and motivation, back office operations, results achievement and waste.
Another opportunity is a developer community called TopCoder “revolutionizing the software design and development process by tapping in to our unlimited global community.”
Will open innovation become the primary source for new ideas and products/apps in the future?
Share this:The Healthcare Social Media Landscape
June 2, 2011
Here is a slide show I created reflecting on the different communities developing in this space. Although each emerged on its own, there is certainly collaborative projects and people across these communities and a sense of mutual support. I myself attended the first Health 2.0 conference, then Medicine 2.0 and also part of the e-Patient community. More conferences occur each year both in the US and Europe; two recent examples are TEDx Maastricht which had a health focus and Doctors 2.0 taking place later this month in Paris. Also, the Quantified Self movement is coming to health care as well.
I’d be interested in other’s opinions on this.
Social Media Moving into Healthcare’s Mainstream
May 2, 2011
TuDiabetes Study
Two articles today demonstrate the growth of influence in social media in the healthcare arena.
The first is a research article about TuDiabetes.org 15,000 members on PLosONE permitting data donation to measure H1c in diabetics to demonstrate a model for cohort and translational science and for use as a complementary surveillance approach. This research combined with a recent study of PatientsLikeMe demonstrate the potential power of utilizing patient reported results and outcomes as a research tool.
The second article appears in the Archives of Internal Medicine, “Professionalism in the Digital Age.” Get a copy of the full version if you can. It represents a positive approach to social media for physicians and other healthcare providers while noting some cautions, such as, the difficulty of separating personal from professional in social media. The article does not recommend social media as a means of communicating with patients but unlike some recent articles, does not discourage its use.
“The development of a “dual-citizenship” approach to online social media that separates public and private personae would allow physicians to both leverage networks for professional connections and maintain privacy in other aspects. Although social media posts by physicians enable direct communication with readers, all posts should be considered public and special consideration for patient privacy is necessary.”
Share this:The Rise of Social Media & Participatory Medicine
April 28, 2011
Read my latest iHealthbeat Perspective on this topic. The rise of the ePatient feeds off of social media tools.
Two points I would like to reinforce:
- every patient with a chronic or life-threatening condition is a member of an online community – they just need to join
- social media sites are become a routine source of information on managing one’s disease and engaging one’s physician.
The members of the Society for Participatory Medicine are taking the lead in this area. To read a more extensive treatment, read the e-Patient Whitepaper and the works of Susanna Fox, Jane Sarasohn-Kahn and others. This movement is very dynamic and making strides into the practice of medicine.
This opinion piece was inspired by attending TEDxMaastricht – the videos tell the story of how social media technology is enabling participatory medicine.
Share this:Appropriate Use of Social Media in Healthcare Organizations
April 14, 2011
A question during a presentation on social media in healthcare about the appropriate use of social media in patient care areas. Social media can be an effective tool for engaging patients online. But what about the use of social media in patient care areas. Should nurses, physicians and other healthcare providers be online interacting with colleagues or family during active patient care? With busy clinics and busier hospital units and greater concern about patient safety, is there time for what administrators might view as a distraction? Would you want your nurse to be updating Facebook while you are waiting for post-op pain medication? Yet there may be some advantages to direct caregivers utilizing social media. How about the oncology nurse interacting with the cancer patient discharged last week? Or nurses within a hospital exchanging ideas about improving patient safety? Yet stories of abusive use of social media in health care persist.
Clear answers are hard to come by. Each hospital will need to develop its own policy and implementation of that policy in the use of social media in patient care environments. But when face time with the patient is the highest priority, social media may need to take a back seat.
Slides are here:
Share this:How about a Motivation App?
April 12, 2011
There is some evidence that although there may be a lot of downloads of health related apps to smart phones, they are underutilized. Especially apps for diets, food monitoring, exercise and walking. Is this a usability problem or lack of complete features?
At one of the breaks during TEDxMaastricht, I had the idea that it may come down to what motivates each person individually. Are you motivated by some kind of rewards (financial or “chance to win…”) or by a social network or by being able to chart your results or receiving regular reminders, etc. What about a chance to win coupons (Groupon integration)?
What about developing an app which would take you through a series of questions to understand what motivates you to exercise or watch what you eat and then matches you with the apps which provide these types of motivations.
If anyone knows of such an app or is developing one, let me know. If you develop one based on this post, give me some credit. Thanks.
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