July 22nd, 2011 by BarbaraFicarraRN in Opinion
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Recently, I had the pleasure of being surrounded by brilliant health care thought leaders. First, I delivered a social media presentation at the Eyeforpharma conference. Secondly, I sat in the audience at the Social Communications and Health Care 2011 conference to listen to others present on social media, and participate in a round-table discussion on social media.
It’s clear from the personal discussion that followed with folks from the pharma industry, medical device companies, and hospitals, that they understand the need for social media (or social networking), but they are cautious to dive in.
A few concerns I’ve heard: “social media can be paralyzing,” “senior leadership in the pharma industry is looking for the FDA to make decisions because it’s such a highly regulated industry,” and “it’s still so new, what’s the ROI?” Concerns are real; however there will always be concerns and questions. Sometimes, the best approach is to just dive right in.
The brilliant reason to dive deep into the social media health space is Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Health in 30*
July 9th, 2011 by GarySchwitzer in True Stories
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Marilyn Mann is a very smart woman. She’s a securities lawyer. But she’s also educated herself about health care out of necessity. She’s a breast cancer survivor and she has a daughter with heterozygous familial hypercholesterolemia, a genetic disease causing very high LDL-cholesterol. She is one of the administrators of a Facebook group called Familial Hypercholesterolemia (FH) Discussion Group – intended primarily for people with FH or their family members.
Recently, Mann got a message from a PR woman who had joined the Facebook page.
“Hi Marilyn,
A few months ago, I had emailed you about some research I was doing about a new treatment for FH. I am now working with a pharmaceutical company, and the company currently has a drug in development to help treat people with severe FH that may not be responding to current therapies. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Gary Schwitzer's HealthNewsReview Blog*
May 27th, 2011 by BarbaraFicarraRN in Health Tips, Opinion
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Social networking allows doctors, nurses and other health professionals to deeply connect and engage with the community and their colleagues.
“We are standing at the precipice of a new online revolution in health care. As more and more health experts embrace the Internet and increase their social media activity, health information seekers will undoubtedly benefit in profound ways.” [Source: Mashable]
Dynamic health and medical professionals engaged in social networking, using Twitter, Facebook, Blogs and YouTube are on the front-line of new modern medicine.
Today’s modern medicine is all about the patient. Participating, partnering and developing a professional relationship is paramount.
While many health consumers are searching the web for support, reassurance and specific health news and information; doctors and nurses continue to question the value of the internet for patients.
Social networking sites such as Twitter, Facebook, and Blogs are not a waste of time for health professionals because it offers value.
Social networking sites and blogs are a powerful and phenomenal platform to educate patients, raise awareness of health issues and it offers a forum to collaborate and connect. It gives a voice to patients and it allows for the conversation to get started with their doctors and other health care professionals.
Doctors, nurses and other health professionals can help validate what is important for patients.
3 reasons why social networking is not a waste of time Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Health in 30*
May 24th, 2011 by Peggy Polaneczky, M.D. in Health Policy, Health Tips
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Eli Pariser talks at TED about how we’re losing the internet to algorithmic gatekeepers at Google, Yahoo, Facebook and even our news sites, which tailor search results to what they think we want to see. Which is why I often start exploring my search results on page 10 instead of page 1. But what if some search results don’t even make it onto my queue?
The side by side comparison of two different users’ internet search on the term “Egypt” during the crisis there is a stunning example of how computerized gatekeepers choose for us what we see (and don’t see) when we log on.
You can’t have a functioning democracy if citizens don’t have a free flow of information.
I encourage you to watch the entire video, and hope the big mahoffs of the internet sitting in the TED audience heard Pariser when he told them this – Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at The Blog That Ate Manhattan*
May 22nd, 2011 by Bryan Vartabedian, M.D. in Opinion
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This Techcrunch post, The Illusion of Social Networks, is worth thinking about. The author Semil Shah suggests that we have a tendency to use social networks to create illusions for our audiences. And over time these illusions compound to create something that may not reflect real life. It’s a type of socical psychomanipulation.
But I wonder if Shah overstates the shady side of human social conduct. I’m more optimistic about the promise of human connectedness. The crowd is smarter than we think. And while we can create any story possible, it’s ultimately the responsibility of the listening masses to decide what’s real. It’s our job to ask the hard questions. Be it television, the web, or our own homes, we’re individually responsible for who we let into our world. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at 33 Charts*
