Health Care Trends With a Social Media Twist

February 2010 Blog Posts (12)

Today's WSJ - "Trusting Other Patients' Drug Advice"

Over the past several years, we've seen the onslaught of direct-to-consumer drug ads manifest and witnessed the development of patient testimonials within them. In part as a result of market research, is seems that drug-companies are starting to make better use of patient advocates to influence social network discussions.

I wonder how this will affect medical social community discussions and openness/suspicions of participants? How… Continue

Added by Rachel Adam on February 25, 2010 at 10:36am — No Comments

I am a ‘cyberchondriac’ and proud of it

I don’t think I’m the only person who goes online at the first sign of pain, a cold, a headache or anything that I think could be some sort of medical condition. It’s a good feeling to know that you can just type something into a search engine, which comes back with at least some explanation as to what might be wrong with you.

But is it really helping us? Or are we putting our health in danger and angering our doctors when we tell them that we already know…

Continue

Added by Anna Gueldenhaupt on February 24, 2010 at 8:07am — No Comments

The Opportunity for mHealth in Developing Countries

In his list of six ways mHealth differs from eHealth, Dr. Ted Eytan notes that mHealth shows the greatest potential in making health information more accessible in developing countries. Citing the example of Mexico where 9.1% of residents have a home Internet connection but 80% own a cell phone, Dr. Eytan argues that while eHealth is largely consumed by wealthier classes with home Internet connections, the lower classes have access to information through mobile platforms.

The… Continue

Added by CaitlinW on February 22, 2010 at 10:23am — No Comments

Google Creating a Buzz in the Health Sector

This post looking at Google Buzz vs. Twitter highlights the growing move in the health sector towards Buzz as the preferred tool for holding conversations to collaborate and share knowledge.

On paper, this certainly seems to be the case. The lack of the 140 character limit, as with Twitter, is much more practical for the… Continue

Added by Roberta Main-Millar on February 18, 2010 at 10:00am — 2 Comments

Facebook for the FDA?

Eye on FDA posted a piece this morning highlighting Facebook as an important social media tool for the FDA. I must admit, at first glance, I was skeptical, but considering the FDA's DTC goals, and latest Transparency Initiative, I think this could be a smart move. FDA is already engaged in Twitter and YouTube - Facebook could support those efforts and serve as yet another means of reaching…

Continue

Added by Jackie Hanley on February 17, 2010 at 2:16pm — No Comments

Internet More Influential than Traditional Media in Health Decisions

According to a new report by Manhattan Research, consumers turn to Internet sources more frequently than traditional channels (e.g. TV, print, radio) when making health decisions. Still, consumers don't view all online sources as equal: while online editorial content is cited in decision making, social media channels are not widely trusted.

When considering the sample (Americans over age 18), the findings are not entirely surprising. With more Americans, especially younger Americans,… Continue

Added by CaitlinW on February 17, 2010 at 8:08am — No Comments

iPad Follow-up Post: Will it Really be Adapted in the Hospital Setting?

In my post a couple of weeks ago, I discussed what the "Apple Tablet," now known as the iPad, could mean for healthcare. Now that the iPad has been released and reviewed, the medical community is torn on it's place in their world. My view is a bit more skeptical that it was before the release, but I still look forward to watching this play out. While the iPad may become a convenient replacement for… Continue

Added by Leanne Drown on February 11, 2010 at 11:36am — No Comments

The Waiting Time Dilemma

Hospitals in Ohio announced this week that they will be displaying average waiting times at the city’s ERs on nearby digital billboards. Combining healthcare and technology often has a positive impact on patient outcomes and enables healthcare professionals to be more efficient. However, in this case some emergency doctors “see this as a dangerous trend” as it may convince patients to travel further to a hospital with lower… Continue

Added by Lucie Smith on February 11, 2010 at 10:55am — No Comments

Practicing Medicine in a Mobile Powered World

The latest post from the Ozmosis Blog examines how medicine may be practiced in a mobile world:

Apple changed the world when they launched the iPod. When the iPhone came out, a new standard for smart phones was set, healthcare apps appeared, and the devices were quickly adopted by physicians (here… Continue

Added by Joel Selzer on February 4, 2010 at 11:46am — No Comments

Medpedia Clinical Trials - A Solution to the Clinical Trial Recruitment Challenge?

In an effort to help create more awareness around clinical trials, Medpedia recently launched Medpedia Clinical Trials, a free platform for patients and MDs interested in receiving information about clinical trials in progress or about to begin. While Medpedia isn't the first to bring a clinical trial search function to patients and doctors, the company is among the first to push or feed the information to… Continue

Added by Jackie Hanley on February 4, 2010 at 9:14am — No Comments

Running A Hospital, Social Media Style

Paul Levy is the CEO of the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) in Boston, but that is probably not why you recognize his name.

In addition to his post as Chief Executive Officer of a major teaching hospital in a world renowned medical hub, he is also the founder and author of a health care blog called Running a Hospital and is an active Twitter user… Continue

Added by Molly Galler on February 4, 2010 at 9:07am — No Comments

Hospitals Lack Overarching Social Media Strategy, Budget

Good article from Dan Bowman at Fierce HC.

Most hospitals don't budget, plan for social media

February 3, 2010 — 12:25pm ET | By Dan Bowman

Tools

While a majority of hospitals (nine out of 10) have jumped on the social media bandwagon, a good portion of those facilities (two-thirds) have no formal ideas for how that media should… Continue

Added by Palmer Reuther on February 3, 2010 at 3:11pm — No Comments