How the Internet is Changing Health Care
Content
How The Internet Is Changing Health Care
In late June, the Rochester, Minn.-based hospital system Mayo Clinic tried something it had never attempted before. Using the micro-blogging service T itter, it announced the imminent release of a study on Celiac disease, an immune system response to gluten. Then it trac!ed hich of its follo ers had re-distributed the T eet and, after careful consideration, provided a fe users ith an embargoed copy of the study"a practice normally reserved for #ournalists. Those follo ers, each of hom have Celiac disease, ere permitted to blog about the study once it as released to the public. $%opefully it becomes a model,& says 'ee (ase, manager of syndication and social media at the Mayo Clinic ho notes that the hospital promoted the study ith e)planatory video and audio clips on its o n blog as ell as on *aceboo! and +ouTube. $,e ant to provide the ability to have a conversation.& In Depth: Where to Find Interactive Health Content Online *or many in medicine, that-s an unconventional perspective. It-s difficult enough to engage one-s physician in a conversation about health issues, much less the staff of a prestigious research institution and hospital system. +et, convention can-t hold bac! the Internet masses ho see! not only reputable health information, but also a dynamic user e)perience and ,eb-based dialogue about their respective conditions and .uestions. /ome researchers, practitioners and hospitals understand this and have begun in earnest to use ne and social media to engage Internet users. Tech-Based Tutorials ,hile no one counts the number of interactive ,eb pro#ects run by those in the health care field, the figure may be in the hundreds. *our Canadian researchers recently published an analysis of medical information on the 0-1 virtual reality !no n as /econd 'ife and found 23 health-related sites alone. The array of content included education tools, information !ios!s, videos and virtual renderings of health care facilities. Jennifer 4eelan, co-author of the study and an assistant professor at the 1alla 'ana /chool of 5ublic %ealth at the University of Toronto, says virtual e)periences can empo er people to become better patients by simulating health care scenarios. The /econd 'ife-based (nn Myers Medical Center, for e)ample, is run by real-life nurses and physicians and demonstrates ho omen can perform their o n breast e)ams. It also allo s the user-s avatar"a self-selected computer character"to receive a virtual mammogram in order to familiari6e patients ith the procedure.
Though /econd 'ife has e)isted since 7887, and social media ,eb sites li!e *aceboo! and T itter have been around for a fe years, most in the health care field are only no starting to migrate to such outlets. Tom 9rand, e)ecutive director of the :orcross, ;a., consulting firm (vid 1esign, says there-s been a $huge bu66 in the past si) months& about moving into this realm. %is firm no advises more than <88 hospital and health care clients loo!ing to develop a more dynamic online presence. (nd doing that effectively can be a po erful mar!eting tool. Instead of relying on a directory of physicians to grab the attention of busy patients loo!ing for a cardiac surgeon, for e)ample, 9rand recommends offering video spots of doctors e)plaining various procedures. $It-s really hard to connect ith te)t on a page,& he says. 9ut hearing a physician tal! through a procedure can ma!e a huge difference. It also doesn-t hurt that videos ma!e an Internet user linger on the page for an average of 77 seconds longer, according to 9rand-s internal statistics. The Patient E perience (s ith anything in social media, the user-s e)perience is hat they ma!e it. 9ut patients can benefit from such content in very specific ays. =n 5atients 'i!e Me, a social-net or!ing ,eb site that functions as a support group, users share intimate details of their diagnosis and treatment, including information about specific symptoms and medications. In other instances, users ant information about cutting-edge technologies. That-s hat 5alomar 5omerado %ealth, a hospital system in the /an 1iego, Calif., area, began offering earlier this year hen it partnered ith Cisco to give /econd 'ife virtual tours of its ne >?<@ million bond-funded facility, hich is scheduled to open in 78<7. The tour highlights ne technologies, including a video camera-e.uipped robot that allo s doctors to ma!e virtual rounds ith patients from afar. AThere-s no mention of the robot-s efficacy or annual >?2,888 cost to the hospital, hich could be passed onto patients in the form of higher fees.B *or patients in search of a dialogue"or debate"about medicine there are various Internet platforms. Jennifer 4eelan says her research has turned up videos on +ouTube in hich users advocate for and against vaccines or share content on the controversial sub#ect. /pirited debates are then carried out in the comments belo the videos, hich users also rate and share. /imilar conversations can ta!e place on *aceboo!, T itter and blogs. 4eelan is careful to note that such e)changes represent hat-s both ideal and imperfect about free and open discussion of health issues online. Users are often ell-
informed and ma!e an effort to refer their peers to reputable resourcesC others repeat unfounded or untrue claims. That-s hat orries public health e)perts the most, 4eelan says. They can help disseminate accurate information, but they have to be #ust as vigilant about falsities or misconceptions before they become viral online. 9ut, she adds, educating the masses and countering misinformation has been the focus of public health officials since the <3th century, hen they used broadsheets and to n halls to reach the public. $This isn-t tremendously different than that,& she says. $,hat-s different is that users themselves are driving the broadcasting and repurposing of information.& In Depth: Where to Find Interactive Health Content Online
In late June, the Rochester, Minn.-based hospital system Mayo Clinic tried something it had never attempted before. Using the micro-blogging service T itter, it announced the imminent release of a study on Celiac disease, an immune system response to gluten. Then it trac!ed hich of its follo ers had re-distributed the T eet and, after careful consideration, provided a fe users ith an embargoed copy of the study"a practice normally reserved for #ournalists. Those follo ers, each of hom have Celiac disease, ere permitted to blog about the study once it as released to the public. $%opefully it becomes a model,& says 'ee (ase, manager of syndication and social media at the Mayo Clinic ho notes that the hospital promoted the study ith e)planatory video and audio clips on its o n blog as ell as on *aceboo! and +ouTube. $,e ant to provide the ability to have a conversation.& In Depth: Where to Find Interactive Health Content Online *or many in medicine, that-s an unconventional perspective. It-s difficult enough to engage one-s physician in a conversation about health issues, much less the staff of a prestigious research institution and hospital system. +et, convention can-t hold bac! the Internet masses ho see! not only reputable health information, but also a dynamic user e)perience and ,eb-based dialogue about their respective conditions and .uestions. /ome researchers, practitioners and hospitals understand this and have begun in earnest to use ne and social media to engage Internet users. Tech-Based Tutorials ,hile no one counts the number of interactive ,eb pro#ects run by those in the health care field, the figure may be in the hundreds. *our Canadian researchers recently published an analysis of medical information on the 0-1 virtual reality !no n as /econd 'ife and found 23 health-related sites alone. The array of content included education tools, information !ios!s, videos and virtual renderings of health care facilities. Jennifer 4eelan, co-author of the study and an assistant professor at the 1alla 'ana /chool of 5ublic %ealth at the University of Toronto, says virtual e)periences can empo er people to become better patients by simulating health care scenarios. The /econd 'ife-based (nn Myers Medical Center, for e)ample, is run by real-life nurses and physicians and demonstrates ho omen can perform their o n breast e)ams. It also allo s the user-s avatar"a self-selected computer character"to receive a virtual mammogram in order to familiari6e patients ith the procedure.
Though /econd 'ife has e)isted since 7887, and social media ,eb sites li!e *aceboo! and T itter have been around for a fe years, most in the health care field are only no starting to migrate to such outlets. Tom 9rand, e)ecutive director of the :orcross, ;a., consulting firm (vid 1esign, says there-s been a $huge bu66 in the past si) months& about moving into this realm. %is firm no advises more than <88 hospital and health care clients loo!ing to develop a more dynamic online presence. (nd doing that effectively can be a po erful mar!eting tool. Instead of relying on a directory of physicians to grab the attention of busy patients loo!ing for a cardiac surgeon, for e)ample, 9rand recommends offering video spots of doctors e)plaining various procedures. $It-s really hard to connect ith te)t on a page,& he says. 9ut hearing a physician tal! through a procedure can ma!e a huge difference. It also doesn-t hurt that videos ma!e an Internet user linger on the page for an average of 77 seconds longer, according to 9rand-s internal statistics. The Patient E perience (s ith anything in social media, the user-s e)perience is hat they ma!e it. 9ut patients can benefit from such content in very specific ays. =n 5atients 'i!e Me, a social-net or!ing ,eb site that functions as a support group, users share intimate details of their diagnosis and treatment, including information about specific symptoms and medications. In other instances, users ant information about cutting-edge technologies. That-s hat 5alomar 5omerado %ealth, a hospital system in the /an 1iego, Calif., area, began offering earlier this year hen it partnered ith Cisco to give /econd 'ife virtual tours of its ne >?<@ million bond-funded facility, hich is scheduled to open in 78<7. The tour highlights ne technologies, including a video camera-e.uipped robot that allo s doctors to ma!e virtual rounds ith patients from afar. AThere-s no mention of the robot-s efficacy or annual >?2,888 cost to the hospital, hich could be passed onto patients in the form of higher fees.B *or patients in search of a dialogue"or debate"about medicine there are various Internet platforms. Jennifer 4eelan says her research has turned up videos on +ouTube in hich users advocate for and against vaccines or share content on the controversial sub#ect. /pirited debates are then carried out in the comments belo the videos, hich users also rate and share. /imilar conversations can ta!e place on *aceboo!, T itter and blogs. 4eelan is careful to note that such e)changes represent hat-s both ideal and imperfect about free and open discussion of health issues online. Users are often ell-
informed and ma!e an effort to refer their peers to reputable resourcesC others repeat unfounded or untrue claims. That-s hat orries public health e)perts the most, 4eelan says. They can help disseminate accurate information, but they have to be #ust as vigilant about falsities or misconceptions before they become viral online. 9ut, she adds, educating the masses and countering misinformation has been the focus of public health officials since the <3th century, hen they used broadsheets and to n halls to reach the public. $This isn-t tremendously different than that,& she says. $,hat-s different is that users themselves are driving the broadcasting and repurposing of information.& In Depth: Where to Find Interactive Health Content Online
