On my way to meet a friend last week I happened upon a car going 20 mph under the listed speed and weaving like he just left happy hour. When passing (and hoping to make eye contact to show my displeasure) it was revealed the offender was too absorbed in his mobile to look up and observe my shaking head and what the hell? expression. I was irked and immediately reached for my phone to text a buddy about it.

People love their phones. It keeps them and their thoughts in the loop. When they eat lunch they tweet about it. When they are sad they post sad lyrics to their Facebook profile. All right from their mobile device.
Regardless of what the fascination says about our culture, the tentacles of social media are growing. Everywhere. Even healthcare.

Hospitals have a Facebook presence now. For evidence–albeit anecdotal—I typed in the name of every single facility I could think of; all had a page. This isn’t a new phenomena, over the weekend I came across a  blog post listing 140 Healthcare Uses for Twitter from almost two years ago.

But for now social media seems reserved for the more formal matters of healthcare. Twitter posts promote a facility, offer general information or list job openings. Maybe that’s social media at it’s best.  Still, as I scrolled down the list of ’140 Uses’ I was most drawn to those uses that included the word ‘patient.’

Where Social media can help

People tend to think using anything internet eliminates privacy. And they are right(sort of). Some healthcare matters are private, but all are not. Over the course of the last 16 months there were many times I wished I could have had direct contact with my doctor to ask a simple question. Most of the time I would have been comfortable texting or tweeting for a quick response rather going through call centers and pressing ’2′ on the menu.
Spending time around patients you find many people deal with the same mundane but stressful things;  remembering to take medication, exercising more, eating better. So much of the problem is behavior modifications need a relentless, knowledgeable positive force, but how often does the average person see their doctor?

In her New York Times column, Dr. Pauline Chen, a surgeon, wrote extensively about social media in the provider/patient relationship. She writes, “[social media] has taught me a tremendous amount about the experiences of patients and caregivers, information I’m not sure I would have had access to had I not been engaged online.” In the same column Chen tells the story of a patient suffering from Buerger’s disease, who could not quit smoking. His habit had cost him several fingers already. During their visits he would be motivated to stop but once he left, he fell back into it. Eventually his left foot and half of his right were amputated. He was confined to a wheelchair. Chen says, if she could have encouraged him every few days she thinks it could have made all the difference.

Those same people who feel inclined to update and tweet and poke and never leave their Blackberry’s side will soon enough have arthritis and high blood pressure and complain about the the price of parking. Social media will continue to advance, innovate and offer more access—let’s hope healthcare is poised to take full advantage.

(image courtesy of http://www.podcastingnews.com)


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