{"id":94502,"date":"2013-10-21T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2013-10-21T05:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/2013\/10\/21\/how-do-we-know-that-social-media-is-important-to-health-care\/"},"modified":"2024-04-14T04:17:27","modified_gmt":"2024-04-14T09:17:27","slug":"how-do-we-know-that-social-media-is-important-to-health-care","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/internet\/2013\/10\/21\/how-do-we-know-that-social-media-is-important-to-health-care\/","title":{"rendered":"How do we know that social media is important to health care?"},"content":{"rendered":"

On Friday, I spoke at the\u00a0Albert Einstein College of Medicine<\/a>, along with\u00a0Kevin Pho, MD<\/a>. During a planning call, the symposium organizers\u00a0had shared results from a faculty survey: Fully two-thirds do not use social tools on a regular basis. Asking them, therefore, to spend a\u00a0half-day<\/a>\u00a0learning about social media was a pretty bold request.<\/p>\n\n

Inspired by\u00a0Kathy Sierra<\/a>\u00a0to focus on the users’ (that is, the audience’s) needs,\u00a0I began with a question that many busy clinicians might be asking:<\/p>\n\n

How do we know that social media is important to health care?<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n

Why should they take anyone’s word for it? Where is the evidence?<\/p>\n\n

My slides <\/a>contain all\u00a0the data I gathered, with a special focus on low-income, low-literacy, and immigrant populations since we were at a hospital serving the Bronx. If you download the file, you can see the resources and studies I link to in the notes section for each slide. <\/p>\n\n

A few highlights:<\/p>\n\n

1) The\u00a0Pew Research Center<\/a>, where I work, collects survey data to hold a mirror up to society and to provide a window into people’s lives. I collect “vanguard data” in the form of stories, like\u00a0this one<\/a>, about two moms who connected on Facebook and prevented the overtreatment of a child.<\/p>\n\n

2) Text messaging counts as a social tool. And there is\u00a0evidence\u00a0<\/a>that it\u00a0works<\/a>\u00a0as a health tool.<\/p>\n\n

3)\u00a0Video\u00a0<\/a>is a viable option for health education, particularly among low-literacy populations.<\/p>\n\n

4) Clinicians are still central to most people’s health care decision-making. And most of the conversation and care happens offline. There is still plenty of time for clinicians to join in the social media revolution.<\/p>\n\n

I put together a Storify of the tweets related to the two keynotes:<\/p>\n\n

Social media’s use in medicine<\/a> <\/p>\n\n

And finally:<\/p>\n\n

I began the talk with a question and ended with an answer, of sorts, in the same form as\u00a0Michael Pollan<\/a>‘s\u00a07-word wisdom about nutrition:<\/p>\n\n

Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n

My version, for these clinicians facing down choices about social media engagement, was as follows:<\/p>\n\n

Listen in. Share your wisdom. Encourage others.<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n

My first draft ended with “Welcome change” but I decided it was better advice to encourage others to join them, which could be interpreted as other colleagues, their students, or even their patients. So I was delighted when Kevin included this Charles Darwin quote in his remarks:<\/p>\n\n

“It is not the strongest of a species that survives, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change.”<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n

What do you think? Are you convinced?\u00a0What other evidence do we need to collect? What would be your advice to clinicians — or others — who are just starting out in health care social media?<\/p>\n\n

Join the conversation on susannahfox.com<\/a>.<\/em> <\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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