This week it was reported in a study by Visible Technologies that 'only a tiny percentage of all posts across social media sites rise to the level of the Adverse Event Reporting (AER) government mandate. The AER requires that companies explain negative side effects from the use of a drug in a clinical trial. Only .3 percent of posts had an AER and some of those didn’t actually rise to the government threshold to mandate one'. Many pharmaceutical companies are hesitant to enter the Social Media … [Read more...]
Do Doctors and Facebook mix?
The British Medical Association (BMA) released social media guidelines this week entitled Using Social Media: Practical and Ethical Guidance for Doctors and Students. This guide 'provides a brief overview of the challenges and potential pitfalls that health professionals may encounter when using social media. It gives practical and ethical guidance on a range of subjects including, protecting patient confidentiality, defamation, the public-private boundary and the potential impact of social … [Read more...]
The danger of Infographics
Who hasn't been seduced by an infographic? Wikipedia explains an Infographic as : a graphic visual representations of information, data or knowledge. These graphics present complex information quickly and clearly. Today however I read an excellent article from PsychCentral discussing a recent US infographic called “The Depressing Statistics about Anti-Depressants.” The author firstly discovers it was produced by ADrugRecall.com a lawyer referral website that specialises in connecting … [Read more...]
Doctor 2.0 – Health Meets Social Media/Web 2.0
As many readers will know I have a keen interest in Health 2.0 and how new technology can assist the patient experience. Over the past week I have been following a conference entitled Doctor 2.0 held in Paris. This is the first international congress devoted to the understanding of how physicians use New Technologies, Web 2.0 tools, Social Media to communicate with other health care professionals, patients, payers, pharmaceutical companies, public agencies… For those interested in this area … [Read more...]
Health focused video games deserve serious attention
As a parent the topic of video games can be problematic! let's face it all those hours in front of the box it can be a source of tension. Well this week The Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) recently published a paper that argued health-focused video games, including those for mobile platforms, now deserve “serious attention.” Dr. Leighton Read of Alloy Ventures and Seriosity, Inc. and Dr. Stephen M. Shortell from the School of Public Health at UC Berkeley chronicled the … [Read more...]
Social Media, Health and Information Accuracy
Tonight on our regular health and social media Twitter chat #hcsmanz we discussed patient information and the role of social media. We discussed that there were a myriad of benefits with emerging techologies but also noted they do have down sides One area that did arise was the area of health information quality. As information sources proliferate and health consumers go to the internet to search for health information the area of quality becomes increasingly important. The other area was … [Read more...]
Pew & California HealthCare Foundation Release Insights into Online Health Information Needs
Recently the Pew Internet Project and California HealthCare Foundation released the findings of an extensive national survey revealing that 80% of Internet users look online for health information. While that figure may not be surprising it is useful to look at the areas of search themselves. The following are some key items from the report: 24% of internet users look online for information about drug safety or recalls. 19% of internet users look online for information about pregnancy and … [Read more...]
2011 – The Year Health gets Personal – Social Media taking Hold
As someone with an avid interest in health/wellness issues it is fantastic to see the moves to personalise health. Why do I think the time is now? Over the past few months this area has been hotting up these are just a few of the moves/innovations: This week On January 28, 2011 the Center for Technology Innovation at Brookings US hosted a policy discussion focused on the challenges of enabling personalised medicine. Some of their key interest areas were identified as: moving from a shift … [Read more...]
Social Media Use in the United States: Implications for Health Communication
As some people are aware I have a keen interest in medical communication after working with cancer institutes and currently with a mental health organisation so I was interested to see this article in the Journal of Medical Internet Research (2009;11/4). The following is a summary of that study from the article: Background: Given the rapid changes in the communication landscape brought about by participative Internet use and social media, it is important to develop a better understanding of … [Read more...]
Online Communities and Cancer Patients
Many years ago I worked as an Information Manager at the NSW Cancer Council so with that background I was interested to see the use of innovative technology in this space with the introduction of the Wellness Community. While the community has been around for some years (Wash DC based) recently a swag of new functionality has been added to the site. The Website provides free online support groups and education programs to people with cancer and their caregivers and families. The community … [Read more...]
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