Yesterday, I tuned in for a bit of the ONC Annual meeting. I caught the tail end of the Fireside chat with Karen DeSalvo, and Thomas Daschle and Bill Frist, MD who were both previously senate majority leaders. Near the end of the discussion, Bill offered up that social media is going to be the way that the change happens. He even commented that many in DC (and I think he was including the medical community as well) aren’t that keen on social media. However, he said that 300 million people (seems to be referencing Facebook’s number) are on it and that’s where the conversation and influence are happening.
It was quite an interesting moment to hear someone like him talk about many people in his position’s opposition (or at least dislike of) social media and how it was going to happen anyway. With that as context, I was intrigued by this Healthcare Social Shakeup Infographic by CDW Healthcare. The title of their post sharing this infographic was called “Healthcare has officially gone social!” The same sentiment that Bill Frist shared. I love this excerpt from their post:
So no matter which role you play in the giving and receiving of care, social media is shaking things up and beginning to foster some amazing results: better knowledge of health conditions, increased dialogue, connected support and more patient engagement.[emphasis added]
Healthcare social media is here to stay. The problem is that in most hospitals we’ve treated social media as a marketing task. It’s a technology, but tech doesn’t take any ownership of it. It’s interaction with patients and possibly patient care, but medical doesn’t want to be part of it. It will take all three groups at a hospital to really do it well.
Here’s the infographic mentioned (Thanks CDW Healthcare):
[…] recent one caught my eye with the claim was that “53% of physicians practices have a facebook page”. This was curious to me, because as I read this in the physician lounge and took my own poll, […]