Social Media, more than commentary

Social Media, an innovative source of healthcare communication.

Social media is something that has become ubiquitous in our society. We check Facebook on our cell phones, we Tweet our every thought, and are able to maintain a constant social presence in this manner. So why hasn’t healthcare picked up on the benefits of social media? Well, it seems they have. There are entire companies geared to providing healthcare social media management (Symplur, 2012). These companies can help physician practices set up social media sites and maintain them in compliance with HIPAA requirements for privacy.

So why social media for healthcare? Well, Rowley (2011) explains that social media in healthcare includes three specific forms of communication;

1.       Practice to public

a.       Well suited to social media

b.      Used to market and promote practice to attract clients

2.       Peer to Peer interaction

a.       Should not include protected information

b.      Used to promote and market practice to other doctors

3.       Physician to Patient

a.       Must be in a secure platform

b.      May convey healthcare education information

c.       May be used to attract clients to the practice

Symplur (2012) is a company that manages healthcare social media. Their website http://www.symplur.com/healthcare-social-media/ is full of great information on this topic. They state the benefits of healthcare social media as being used to educate patients, find patients, and collaborate with peers. An example of this could be a surgeon who does bariatric procedures has a social media page. On this page the doctor provides his own credentials, shares information about the surgeries, has links to additional sites with bariatric information, and provides a resource for contacting the physician. A patient seeing this could be influenced to choose this doctor, or another doctor looking for a surgeon for their patient may also be influenced.

Knowing how doctors can use such pages, how can the nurse? Could nurses set up social media pages for public health initiatives? Could they use social media to encourage healthy behaviors? What do you think?

References

Rowley, R. (2011). Social media for healthcare professionals. Retrieved from http://www.practicefusion.com/ehrbloggers/2011/09/social-media-for-healthcare-professionals.html

Symplur (2012). Healthcare social media. Retrieved from http://www.symplur.com/healthcare-social-media/