Comments on: Social networking impact on patients, doctors, and non-profits

By: Marilyn Blundin

Marilyn Blundin — Wed, 05 May 2010 13:31:27 +0000

A very good article.
As a breast cancer survivor, I rely heavily on the discussion boards of a now nationally recognized site founded in the Philadelphia area years ago. The site evolved. As with anything else “bigger” does not translate in all aspects to “better” (IMHO). That said, the information, moral and social support from others with the same disease is priceless. Our collective voices were heard by a major pharmco who responded by changing their drug info insert to reflect side effects not previously reported. This too is priceless.
As a former health care administrator, I think as a tool for doctors to use as charted contact to patients, it may be best to retain “social” in the definition unless standardized forms can be used with area for comment. It’s enough to read the discussion boards to understand how easily perfectly sound science becomes misunderstood by patients.
If doctors tie this to reimbursement, networks need to be incorporated in the formal reporting system for patient follow-up, “dated and signed”. The anesthesia system of time, base, modifiers such as physical status, etc. comes to mind as a start of that conversation. Malpractice reform is essential for this to reach full potential (Nuisance cases could explode if this isn’t addressed.) On call support … instead of a beeper it’s an iPhone/Pad networked to an application integrated to patient charts, quality measures and tracking measures for eventual economic value standards. (Physician fraud cases could explode if this isn’t addressed.)
I use email to send my doctors research that is pertinent to my care. I don’t expect an answer immediately…they have priorities and I know their schedule. But they always respond to my questions–either at the next office or via email if they see a concern for my health. I’m in a National Health System (Italy). There is no charge for this care to the patient.

By: Penelope

Penelope — Wed, 05 May 2010 02:14:20 +0000

Social media has good effects on both patients and doctors especially those listed in this blog, however there are also disadvantages to this scheme. Though it was found out that many patients are always hooking for information on the internet but they still trust their doctors more than the web, I’m still perplexed that someday too much use of these social media sites can affect patient doctor relationship and even the attitude of patients towards their doctors. Yeah technology is good but I do believe that everything that is too much is bad.

By: Aurora

Aurora — Tue, 04 May 2010 17:18:23 +0000

I agree with Max. Communicating takes time away from other activities. If I were an already-super busy doctor, I wouldn’t want to spend more time outside of work communicating with patients. If there was some other exchange, like more money, or less of some other method of communication, and less of another time-taking task, I think doctors would be more likely to agree to social media communication.

By: Max

Max — Tue, 04 May 2010 13:43:17 +0000

Nice article and a good read. I would add that communication between physicians and patients would improve outside the office setting if reimbursement were addressed. Usually when I read articles like email communication, twitter, etc it usually addresses privacy concerns but rarely addresses remuneration. Once that’s fixed, like lawyers charging in blocks of 15 minutes, communication will go up. Way way way up. Even during dinner. That’s what the almighty greenback does to a person.