There are a whole host of benefits to streaming video, reading articles, and following people who support your cause on social media. But what about health care? What if all of that social media activity could help you stay healthy? And stay ahead of the curve in terms of your healthcare goals? Check out these five ways social media can improve your health care!
Why Social Media Can Improve Your HealthCare.
Studies have shown that social media can play a role in improving your health. For one, social media can help you stay updated on your health. By staying connected to others who share similar interests, you can learn about new and healthy ways to approach your health and improve your overall well-being. Additionally, using social media as a way to get the news you need can help you improve your understanding of your health and make better decisions about how to treat yourself.
How Social Media Can Help You Stay Updated on Your Health
Social media can also be a helpful tool for keeping you up-to-date on your health. By staying connected to others who have similar medical conditions and experiences, you can get the latest information and tips about healthy living and how to deal with sickness. Additionally, by sharing thoughts and experiences about your health with others, you may help build support systems around you that can help keep you healthy.
How Social Media Can Help You Connect with Others about Your Health
Social media has also been found to be effective in helping people connect with each other about their health. In addition to providing an outlet for discussing personal issues face-to-face, social media can also provide a space for connecting with other people who share the same interest in being healthy as you do: through discussion boards, blogs, forums, or even YouTube channels. This type of communication allows people from all walks of life to come together and share their thoughts on topics related to fitness, dieting, stress management, etc., which could then lead to better ideas for living and healthier habits going forward.
How Social Media Can Help You Get the News You need to Improve Your Health
In addition to being a helpful tool for staying updated on your health, social media can also be a valuable resource for getting the news you need about important health topics. By reading and sharing articles that interest you, you can learn about new methods of treating or preventing illness, as well as new trends in health care. This type of information can then help you make better decisions about how to approach your health and improve your overall well-being.
Benefits Of Social Media In Health Care
Professional Networking
The most popular social media sites for physicians are those where they can participate in online communities, listen to experts, and network and communicate with colleagues regarding patient issues. The use of social media by pharmacists also frequently focuses on communication with colleagues.1 The social-networking platforms used for professional networking are often solely accessible and specifically cater to people within these professions. Besides clinical topics, discussions on these sites address diverse subjects, such as ethics, politics, biostatistics, practice management, career strategies, and even dating in a medical environment. They can also provide a supportive environment for HCPs who subspecialize.
Another example of professional networking among HCPs is crowdsourcing, which involves harnessing the knowledge and skills of a community to solve problems or to gather information and opinions. Social media can also be used to connect HCPs in third-world countries with specialists in more medically advanced locations. For example, surgical procedures can be streamed via the Internet and questions can be asked via Twitter in real time. Thus, social media provide a new communication channel for HCPs to network professionally to share and exchange medical information in ways and at a pace that was never before possible
Raising Awareness
Social media is a key way to raise public awareness about new, emerging, and annual health concerns. Hospitals are notified immediately via Twitter and Facebook when a tragic incident occurs. This means that they are prepared to treat any injured individual before the tragedy has been publicly reported. Raising awareness about credible sources makes it easier for your followers to counter inappropriate healthcare social media claims they see in posts from their own social connections.
Professional Education
The communication capabilities provided by social media are also being used to improve clinical education. The high usage rate of social media by 18- to 29-year-olds has motivated the adaptation of clinical curricula to reflect the changing habits and culture of incoming students. Many studies have described the use of social media tools to enhance clinical students’ understanding of communication, professionalism, and ethics. Universities are also using social media to recruit students, to increase access to academic libraries, and to create virtual classrooms and office hours, as well as other unique learning experiences.
Social media are also being widely implemented in undergraduate pharmacy curricula. One-third of pharmacy programs have reported using Twitter in some capacity. A 2011 survey also found that 38% of pharmacy faculty members use Facebook for teaching, with half reporting that they plan to use social media in the future. In one example, an instructor in a geriatric pharmacotherapy course at the University of Rhode Island used Facebook to encourage class discussions and to connect students with senior citizens who had volunteered to participate in the course. This experience improved student perceptions of older adults and also introduced the senior citizens to Facebook. At Auburn University, instructors established Twitter handles so that pharmacy students could participate in class discussions anonymously. By semester’s end, 81% of students felt Twitter had let them express opinions they wouldn’t have shared otherwise, although 71% thought that Twitter had been distracting
Public Health Surveillance
While social media should never replace traditional data sources for public health data sources and disease surveillance, social media does hold the potential for providing complementary information. Social media data of interest is a set of online communications promoting healthy lifestyles, disease risks, and interventions. Twitter data pertaining to common cold occurrences were found to correlate with seasonal influenza data collected by more traditional sources. These social media trends can help researchers, epidemiologists and healthcare practitioners quantify changes in disease awareness as well as sentiments towards treatment and preventative care. Additionally, social media data can measure reaction to public health messages and campaigns.
Organizational Promotion
Health care organizations, including hospitals, health systems, professional societies, pharmaceutical companies, patient advocacy groups, and pharmacy benefit companies, are using social media for many purposes. Uses include communicating with the community and patients; enhancing organizational visibility; marketing products and services; establishing a venue for acquiring news about activities, promotions, and fund-raising; providing a channel for patient resources and education; and providing customer service and support. It has been estimated that 70% of U.S. health care organizations use social media, with Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube being the most popular. Blogs are also used by many medical centers and hospitals.
Studies have shown that this use of social media can greatly enhance the image and visibility of a medical center or hospital. In one study, 57% of consumers said that a hospital’s social media presence would strongly influence their choice regarding where to go for services. A strong social media presence was also interpreted by 81% of consumers as being an indication that a hospital offers cutting-edge technologies. In another study, 12.5% of surveyed health care organizations reported having successfully attracted new patients through the use of social media.
General Awareness and Medical Information
People have started using the internet as a means to diagnose themselves and seek help. The available information might not always be authentic, but most of it still provides awareness to health problems because of which people rush to seek treatment before it’s too late. Social media provides a prodigious opportunity for healthcare organizations to raise awareness about the most sought-after health problems like diabetes, cardiac diseases, allergies, and geriatric medicine. Patients can search on social media for information on doctors, hospitals, and specialists.
Patient Care
Although there has been a reluctance among HCPs to use social media for direct patient care, this practice is slowly being accepted by clinicians and health care facilities. For example, Georgia Health Sciences University has provided patients with access to a platform called WebView, which allows the patients to reach their doctors to ask questions or to request prescription refills.
Recent studies have found that physicians have begun to develop an interest in interacting with patients online. Some physicians are using social media, including Twitter and Facebook, to enhance communication with patients. Approximately 60% of physicians were found to favor interacting with patients through social media for the purpose of providing patient education and health monitoring, and for encouraging behavioral changes and drug adherence, with the hope that these efforts will lead to “better education, increased compliance, and better outcomes.” However, other studies have shown that considerable resistance still exists to using social media to interact with patients. In a survey of approximately 480 practicing and student physicians, 68% felt it was ethically problematic to interact with patients on social networks for either personal or professional reasons.
Peer Support
The whole idea of social media is to connect with people. When someone is going through a difficult time of disease, just knowing that there are a lot of people out there who have gone through the same or are experiencing the same problems, provides emotional support to the patient. Social support has been known to show positive health outcomes, with some studies showing that patient’s compliance and general health are enhanced when they get support from family and peers. In addition to that, hashtag campaigns on Twitter and Facebook for organ donations and fundraisings have helped people. Furthermore, social media helps in opening conversations about mental health issues.
Best Social Media Platform For Healthcare
Sermo
Perhaps the most popular site for healthcare providers on the web today, Sermo is focused on connecting “verified and credentialed” physicians from around the world in 150 countries, with plans to expand even further globally. Doctors can ask their peers anonymous questions regarding patient care in this “virtual doctors lounge.” Currently, the site has over 800,000 users.
WeMedUp
Members of this global online community will have access to a job board and information on local healthcare related events in addition to being able to discuss cases with other healthcare providers while staying up to date with the latest advancements in medicine.
Student Doctors Network
Students interested in pursuing a career in medicine will be well supported with the resources provided through this educational and non-profit website. Since 1999, the dedicated medical students and residents who founded the group have committed to providing assistance to younger medical students during all phases of their studies, from high school through the opening of their first practice.
Doximity
Another site with over half a million users, Doximity targets U.S. based physicians in all specialty areas. According to the company, it’s the largest community for healthcare professionals in the country with 70% of all U.S. doctors have already signed up for membership. Doximity is also the place to be for pharmacists, physician assistants and nurse practitioners. You can even earn some of your category 1 CME credits by reading medical journal articles through this site.
Among Doctors
While a bit smaller in membership, Among Doctors is a networking platform similar to Sermo and Doximity. With Among Doctors, physicians can create private groups including trusted professionals for advice and collaboration. The biggest perk of Among Doctors is that it’s exclusive for medical professionals. Physicians must be verified using their real names while pharmaceutical reps and other “salesy” types are forbidden from joining.
How to Use Social Media to Improve Your Health.
Use social media to get the information you need to improve your health. For example, find online resources that offer advice on how to improve your health or find people who share your interests in order to connect with them about better health.
Use Social Media to Connect with Others about Your Health
linkage social media can help you connect with others about your health. For example, by using social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn to connect with friends and family who share similar interests in health, you can gain valuable insights and support.
Use Social Media to Get the News You need to Improve Your Health
Social media can also be used for news gathering purposes. By using social networks like Twitter and LinkedIn to post updates on various topics related to your health, you can stay up-to-date on current research and developments that could impact your health. Additionally, by following professional bloggers or other commentators who write about healthy living issues and healthcare topics, you can learn more about ways you can improve your well-being without having to leave your home!
Use Social Media to Improve Your Health
In addition to getting the information you need for improving your health, using social media can also help make better decisions about healthcare decisions. For example, by reading articles or watching videos related to healthcare issues before making any decisions, you’ll be able to better understand the complex subject matter and make informed choices that will benefit both of your overall wellness!
How to Improve Your Health with Social Media.
Social media can be a great resource for getting the information you need to improve your health. For example, social media can help you learn about healthy food, how to stay healthy, and how to connect with others about your health.
In addition, social media can be a great way to connect with others about your health. By posting updates on your health or by talking to other people who have experience with improving their health, you can build relationships and learn more about each other’s experiences.
Use Social Media to Connect with Others about Your Health
One of the best ways to connect with others about your health is by using social media to connect with others about their own health. By doing this, you’ll be able to gain insights into what works for other people and find resources that might help you improve your own healthcare.
Use Social Media to Get the News You need to Improve Your Health
Social media can also be a great way to get the news you need in order to improve yourhealth. By reading articles and subscribing to newsletters related to your nearest and interested area of interest, you can stay up-to-date on important medical news and developments. Additionally, by following along with onlineand print publications that focus on issues relatingto your specific health condition or topic, you can quickly become familiar with the latest research and developments in this field.
Use Social Media to Improve Your Health
Conclusion
Social Media can help you improve your health by getting the information you need to improve your health, connecting with others about your health, and getting the news you need to improve your health.