How the Internet and social media are changing healthcare
You wake up feeling a slight tickle in your throat. You try and shake it off and drink lots of water. After a few hours, it’s still there. Instead of calling your mom or making a doctor appointment, you head to the Internet. Today, anyone with a computer and a connection can get online and find a variety of results, ranging from simple sore throat to the more serious, like bronchitis and asthma.
But just because we can doesn’t mean we should. In a world
where almost everyone is online and can easily find and provide medical solace,
is it really, truly a good idea to consider social media and the Web a reliable
source of healthcare?
In a path similar to previous technological advancements, adoption will occur bottom up with the use cases that are simply too financially and professionally clear to be ignored: remote tracking of simple, low bandwidth measurements and monitoring of higher risk patients (in assisted living facilities, as mentioned by Anil or in homes).
Preventative care and health/fitness tracking is a trend that will help speed up the adoption of connected devices as consumers can make purchase decisions by themselves leading to a broader early adopter segment that may drive faster change.
Doctors and hospitals are on the
social media bandwagon
Today, more and more members of
the medical profession are embracing social media for sharing helpful medical
information and providing patient care. A Pricewaterhouse Cooper conducted
survey asked over a thousand patients and over a hundred healthcare executives
what they thought of the way many healthcare companies are utilizing social
media and the Web, and results show the most trusted resources online are those
posted by doctors (60 percent), followed by nurses (56 percent), and hospitals
(55 percent).
le bonheur fb pageSocial media is
becoming more and more utilized by hospitals and medical professionals as a
means to convey general health information, sometimes even personalized help.
Amanda Mauck, Interactive Marketing Specialist for Le Bonheur Children’s
Hospital, thinks engaging with patients via social media is a great way to
empathize with those who need comfort, not just provide relevant health news.
Aside from the latest news about the hospital, Le Bonheur’s Facebook page
mostly contains relatable family stories and parenting advice. “Our users love
photos and [success] stories, [especially those] that showcase our team’s
compassion and ability to go above and beyond for a family,” says Mauck. The
hospital does receive private messages inquiring about specific medical
conditions, but they never address them publicly on their Facebook page,
usually recommending patients to direct their questions to the hospital’s
general contact form or contact them by phone. “When a family posts a comment
about a medical issue, we like to encourage the family to email our general
account. We do this for a couple of reasons: One, to protect that patient’s
privacy, and two, it is easier to put the family in touch with the right person
on our team for help,” Mauck explains.
Kevin Pho, M.D., an internal
medicine physician and founder of KevinMD.com, however, notes the potential for
misinformation on the Internet is high. “The problem is, you can’t trust
everything you read online,” Pho says. “For instance, consider that fewer than
half of websites offered accurate facts on sleep safety for infants, or that
pro-anorexia websites were shared more frequently on YouTube.” According to Pho, health professionals need a
strong social media presence to establish themselves as reputable sources as
well as to properly point patients toward legitimate sites to be used as
secondary sources.
While Pho uses Facebook more for
personal reasons, he uses Twitter professionally on a daily basis to retweet
provocative healthcare opinions and news stories, as well as curate information
that’s relevant to his profession. “Health reform tends to drive many of the
health opinions on the web. To truly fix
healthcare, I believe that we need solutions from both ends of the political
spectrum, so I avoid sharing opinion pieces that are overly partisan or
dogmatic,” Pho says. His “essential list” includes a variety of healthcare
stakeholders, including physicians, social media experts, and policy analysts.
The likes of Facebook and Twitter
not only give medical professionals a platform to connect with patients, but
with fellow doctors as well. Doximity is like Facebook for physicians, where
general M.D.s can easily consult specialists for cases they need assistance
with.
The challenges to Internet healthcare
Of course there’s a downside to
doctors becoming too available online. The Internet is almost always the
opposite of private – sensitive subjects like physical and mental ailments can
easily be revealed by the person suffering from them or the doctor treating
them through a tweet or a comment. Social relationships between doctor and
patient can also be easily muddled; many health institutions discourage staff
from “friending” patients on Facebook and other social media platforms at the
risk of jeopardizing treatment as well as reputations.
The Wall Street Journal mentions
a survey published in the Journal of General Internal Medicine back in 2011
that revealed 35 percent of respondents who are practicing physicians have
received friend requests from patients on their personal social network
accounts, and 58 percent of them always reject them.
“I see Twitter as a higher-risk
environment, as it’s basically an open forum.”
Thomas Lee, M.D. of the
Orthopedic Foot & Ankle Center in Westerville, Ohio raises a valid point:
Social media is a difficult media for a physician because of HIPAA, the Health
Insurance Portability and Accountability Act. “It is very difficult to talk
about medical care without personalizing the content, and you can’t personalize
content without violating HIPAA,” Lee explains. “In addition, the practice of
medicine requires a thorough history of the patient’s current condition and a
thorough physical exam before we can render a diagnosis and treatment plan. A
person with a severe headache for several months can range from a simple
headache to migraines to an allergic reaction to a life threatening brain
tumor. How would a doctor – or a computer program – differentiate between these
diagnoses without physically talking and touching the patient? Without the
opportunity to directly talk to a patient and examine them, our ability to be
accurate is significantly mitigated.”
Lee avoids dishing out
professional and medical advice on his Twitter and Facebook accounts, but
admits that both help in making himself appear more accessible to his patients
and staff. Although he posts frequently, it is unusual for him to engage in a
dynamic conversation online.
“I see Twitter as a higher-risk
environment, as it’s basically an open forum,” Dr. Rob Lamberts says of his
minimal use of the micro-blogging site for his own practice; he only utilizes
it occasionally to float a medical question to his colleagues. He has used
Facebook in the past to advise people regarding a study on Zithromax, but other
than that, Lamberts believes social networking sites are more for marketing and
general communication than for medical application.
Scott Linabarger, Senior Director
of Multichannel Content Marketing for the Cleveland Clinic, believes that
nothing should take the place of having a conversation with your physician. “We
cannot provide specific advice, nor can we diagnose users via social media. Our
information is general and is intended to provide guidance. Our posts are about
the users, not about Cleveland Clinic,” Linabarger explains. According to
Cleveland Clinic’s over 450 thousand Facebook followers, they want health and
wellness tips, information about diseases and conditions, and news about the
latest in medical innovation from the hospital’s Facebook page. The general
information is usually presented by Cleveland Clinic through images, a manner
they have proven to garner a higher response rate compared to purely text
content.
What about online therapy and
similar practices that conduct virtual sessions? A study conducted by
University of Sydney researchers on the effectiveness of Internet-delivered
Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (iCBT) examined e-couch, a free online program that
offers various modules that provide anxiety and depression assistance. The
results reveal the program to be more effective in alleviating mild to moderate
depression and cardiovascular ailments as well as physical health issues than
other methods of searching for health advice online.
e couch“Essentially, online
therapy will help serve the nearly 3 out of 4 people who have mental health
problems but do not currently get any kind of help,” says Lawrence Shapiro,
Ph.D., President of Talk to An Expert, Inc., a HIPAA-compliant e-therapy
company that launched quite recently. “It is particularly important for people
who cannot get to an office for conventional help because they are housebound,
in remote areas, physically disabled, and so on. Online therapy lowers the bar for people who
need help.”
“There are a few studies that
have been done suggesting that online therapy is just as effective as in-office
therapy,” Shapiro continues. “According to the American Psychological
Association, almost 25 percent of people with mental health problems don’t get
the help they need with the current mental health delivery system. Online
therapy extends the reach and reduces the cost of therapeutic services.” With
the emergence and acceptance of e-therapy as a legitimate form of healthcare,
any patient who cannot afford to schedule appointments during office hours or
is undergoing a problem in a public place (think of someone with an intense
fear of flying freaking out at the airport, or someone injured and traumatized
at a disaster site) can receive instant psychological services.
Dr. Internet, at your service
According to a report compiled by
the Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project, one in three
American adults have used the Web to figure out a medical issue. Of all those
users hoping to find solutions online, 46 percent thought they needed to seek
professional medical assistance to be certain, 38 percent believed they could
handle their ailments in the privacy and comfort of their own homes, and 11
percent ended up doing both or something in between. The accuracy of accessed
information online is a different matter all together – 41 percent of those who
sought medical advice got diagnostic confirmation from actual physicians and an
extra two percent only got partial confirmation. 18 percent were met with
disagreement or a different diagnosis, while one percent got an uncertain
reaction.
As an Internet savvy patient,
it’s always good to be prepared – or to first look for alternative, quick, and
easy (and risk-free) methods to address a less serious medical issue before
committing money and time to a medical consultation and medication. Facebook is
a rich source for fitness-focused pages that inspire users to adopt healthier
lifestyles. In one click you can become a member of a community that will help
you with any fitness-or-health-related questions through their personal
experiences.
“I do my best to not complain a
lot at home. Instead, I use social media sites like Twitter and Tumblr to
express how I’m feeling without having to burden my loved ones.
A lot of patients suffering from
serious ailments also turn to Facebook for support. Dana Baker – a thyroid
cancer survivor – has been a long-time sufferer of a long list of ailments,
including chronic fatigue syndrome, fibromyalgia, anxiety, and depression. She
is a member of various support groups on Facebook and uses them to sympathize
with other people suffering from similar conditions. “When you are chronically
ill, it is emotionally draining not on just yourself but also on your friends
and family. It becomes very difficult for your loved ones, because they have to
see you suffer, and the majority of the time there is nothing they can do to
help you,” Baker says. “I do my best to not complain a lot at home. Instead, I
use social media sites like Twitter and Tumblr to express how I’m feeling without
having to burden my loved ones. I use support groups on Facebook to talk with
other people, share our experiences with doctors, medications, and alternative
treatments. We also share coping strategies.”
Aside from using social
networking sites to keep in touch with fellow patients, Baker also uses Google
to look up prospective doctors, sites like WebMD to look up any prescription
medication, as well as condition-specific sites like migraine.com and thyca.org (for thyroid
cancer). She also uses an iPhone app that allows her to keep in touch with her
doctors via direct message and they usually respond within the day.
The Internet can also bring the
world’s home remedies to your desktop. Trusting the Web to prescribe a homemade
concoction might sound sketchy, but by using the right keywords and employing
responsible Internet navigation, you can find legitimate “all natural”
solutions for common mild ailments. Sites like Home Remedies Web encourage
healthcare at home – their list of natural cures address a wide range of common
problems, from acid reflux to yeast infections. It also features comments from
people who’ve tried the remedies so you have an idea what you’re getting
yourself into.
Based on Pew Research Center’s
findings, a large percentage of people online prefer taking matters into their
own hands, thinking it’s enough to be armed with enough Web search prowess to
beat any disease. The trouble is, the wealth of information leaves too much
room for guessing – patients can easily underestimate a medical condition, and
too often they lean toward inaccurate and scary data. This is confirmed by
research conducted by the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, which
reveals that the less familiar you are with the patient and the condition
(meaning being diagnosed by someone besides a search engine and your own
queries), the better the chance you have at finding out what’s really wrong.
“I encourage patients to go
online and inform themselves about their medical conditions. Patients deserve to be well-informed, and the
transparency of the Internet allows them access to information that used to be
gated by a provider,” according to Pho. “The problem, as previously mentioned,
is the quality of the information on the Web. There’s too much information available.
Physicians need to act as curators of that information, and help patients sort
out what’s helpful and what’s not.”
The middle ground and the bottom
line: social media and healthcare can go hand in hand
“Social media isn’t always a
secure forum; there’s no way to confirm whether the person on the other end is
a legitimate patient or physician,” Pho says. Most hospitals and medical
institutions provide healthcare social media policies for their physicians and
staff, and as long as these guidelines are respected, social media is a great
tool to bring patients and doctors together.
The problem arises when patients
tend to believe that they have the worst diagnosis out of the many
possibilities and create unnecessary anxiety within themselves.”
Patients should use this same
compromising policy as well. “I don’t mind informed and well educated patients
at all,” says Dr. Amit Malhotra, M.D. of Smart Health Technology. “The problem
arises [when] patients tend to believe that they have the worst diagnosis out
of the many possibilities and create unnecessary anxiety within themselves. It
is important to educate yourself and then have a good conversation regarding
your problem with your doctor [so he can] guide you through your problem and
address your concerns.” Instead of looking up diagnoses, patients can use the
Internet as a positive resource for ways to stay healthy and to research sites
that provide credible health content. “Patients should ask, ‘who funds it? Who’s writing that information? Are there any commercial relationships? Is there an agenda?’ As a rule of thumb, I
recommend health information from ‘.gov’ websites, such as Medline Plus, or
‘.org’ websites that belong to hospitals or medical centers, like the Mayo
Clinic,” Pho suggests.
According to Lee Aase, Mayo
Clinic’s Director for Social Media, aside from posting general health
information, it is also important to offer content that invites patient
involvement. “We do a ‘Myth or Matter of Fact’ feature each week in connection
with our Saturday radio program in which we post a frequently heard saying
about a disease or condition, and then invite users to say whether they think
the statement is true or whether it is a myth. We reveal the answer on the page
after radio program airs,” Aase mentions.
The world today is
technologically driven, and it’s in our best interest – whether you’re a
physician catering to your patients’ queries or an individual seeking proper
medical treatment – to keep up with these advancements, especially when it comes
to accessing healthcare. But even the Internet needs to be taken with a grain
of salt, and in the case of healthcare, it’s in everyone’s interest to proceed
with caution and skepticism.
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