Healthcare

Socializing Healthcare

Over the last five years it has become an accepted practice to “hang out” with your friends and family asynchronously using the internet. Initially, the available networking sites were fairly generic. Facebook.com served no purpose other than to connect anyone, anywhere, to share anything. LinkedIn.com narrowed their scope slightly by targeting professionals to connect and share their resume-like profiles.

Now social networking is making its buzz in healthcare. The social model is being applied to chronic disease management, wellness and fitness management, and other areas where peer-to-peer support or pressure can play a positive part.

But how effective will these social health networks be?

The Economist recently ran an article that highlights the limit of our brain to participate in social networks. Even though a person could be connected to hundreds of friends, she would most likely only regularly interact with a handful of people in her network. With this data point, you can argue that social networking online is not helping to build new or longer lasting relationships.

In the area of healthcare, any connection between patients and others, tight or loose, short or long-term, is valuable. First, everyone is sharing her own condition and experience openly and willingly. Seeing that there are 5,000 people out there who are just like me is encouraging. Being able to see what other treatments and outcomes are available is beneficial. If she wants to, a patient can communicate with another patient directly. Finally, for some seasoned patients, they can even provide insightful advice.  To take it a step further, PatientsLikeMe.com merges social networking with care management by the patient. A patient’s profile includes detailed information about mood, physical symptoms, treatments, etc. These social interactions can be based on not only an individual’s impression and experience but also facts and supporting medical data.

If social networks are designed appropriately and used effectively, socializing healthcare can empower the individual to become an active contributor to the course of her care, physical and mental health. Incremental improvement of individual care leads to a healthier society.

Time will tell, but I am optimistic!

Tags: Facebook, LinkedIn, PatientsLikeMe, Social Network, The Economist

Mindy is a project manager at Medullan, with experience in managing both software development and product deployment. Currently, she is focusing on providing valuable business solutions to health care and life sciences organizations in the U.S.