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Health Care Professionals Should Learn to Leverage Social Media

By: Amber Morris | 01/07/2010

In the midst of some recent health care issues, I "fired" a doctor I'd had for nearly 10 years. I'd become increasingly concerned about the treatment and counsel she'd been giving me, and decided to get a second option. But the straw that broke the camel's back and led me to end my relationship with my former doctor and switch to the new doctor? These words uttered from my former doctor when I'd asked a question about some information I'd seen, "You aren't looking at the internet, are you?" (The emphasis on internet as if it were the plague.)

I understand there can be misinformation shared online by those that aren't in the medical profession. I also recognize the pitfalls that can occur when it comes to self-diagnosis and self-treatment of medical conditions. However, the counsel we at Standing Partnership give our clients who are reluctant to dip their toe into the social media waters completely holds true for medical professionals: the online conversation is happening with or without you (in fact, according to a November 2009 survey by the Pew Internet and American Life Project, more than 60 percent of adults say they look online for health information). Also, social media has changed the way people want information. They want authentic dialogue, rather than one-way marketing speak. For me, my doctor's comment about the internet made me distrust her medical counsel even more.

What's a medical professional to do? Even if you don't want to engage in the online conversation with patients via blogging, Twitter or Facebook, or with other medical professionals by networking and best-practice sharing, consider ways to leverage the information patients are gathering online:

• Direct patients to reputable sites (and these sites aren't just affiliated with medical organizations; I found a great deal of fodder to discuss with my new doctor in online patient communities - after all, these people are experiencing what I'm going through).
• Share tips for discerning accurate information from misinformation.
• Provide guidelines for how you'd like information they find online to guide your office visits (do you prefer they bring printouts of specific information or notes or a list of questions?).

Posted in Digital Communications