'Embrace' social networking, doctors told

Friday June 17th, 2011

Social networking is a powerful tool that should be embraced as a way of helping people improve their knowledge of health – and to break down barriers, experts say today.

Three letters in this week's Lancet focus on how doctors and patients are adjusting to new technology and means of communication.

In the first letter, Helen Atherton and Professor Azeem Majeed, from Imperial College London, UK, said social networking should not be seen as a threat to doctor-patient relationships.

In fact, they say, “we should be using current evidence on how social networking might be used to improve communication with patients”.

"Concerns about the effect of new technology on the doctor-patient relationship were probably being expressed when telephones were first introduced more than 100 years ago,” they write.

“Rather than viewing new technology as a threat, we should use the opportunities it offers to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of health systems and to improve people's knowledge of their health and illnesses."

A group representing the Australian Medical Association, the New Zealand Medical Association, and the Australian and New Zealand Medical Students' Association write about new guidelines - www.ama.com.au/socialmedia - that have been drawn up to assist with social networking dilemmas.

“Unlike our American counterparts, we have not explicitly advocated the formal reporting of unprofessional online behaviour; instead we encourage medical practitioners to notify colleagues discreetly themselves,” they write.

Dr Yu-Chuan Li, Taipei Medical University, Taiwan, and colleagues, tells how the power of Facebook changed political policy.

A Facebook page was launched in Taiwan by emergency room staff, frustrated at the government’s lack of action on tackling emergency room overcrowding.

They linked it to the Taiwanese Minister of Health's Facebook page, who subsequently discussed the concerns, before he and his colleagues made surprise visits to ten emergency departments in ten different cities.

A press release was issued the following day that promised to tackle emergency room crowding and quality of care.

"This case has implications for the future of health care, since it shows how social networking can break down the rigid social and professional hierarchical structures that can hinder reform,” conclude the authors.

The Lancet June 17 2011

Tags: Asia | General Health | UK News

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