07/20/14 HCOM512 Digital Strategies for Health Communication

Hospital Websites for Patient Education

Ludan Zhang

Why this topic?✤ Patient education: important component of health

care

✤ the rise in chronic disease: Health Education, Disease Management, Lifestyle Promotion

✤ Learn more about care services, get prepared, save time

✤ Overwhelmed information, credibility and professional

✤ Patient-centered, user-friendly

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Massachusetts General Hospital ✤ Mass General, MGH

✤ Oldest, largest, reputation, budget

✤ #2 hospital (by U.S. News & World Report)

✤ teaching hospital of Harvard Medical School

✤ Partners HealthCare

✤ Educational Units

Web Strategieshttp://www.massgeneral.org/ortho/patienteducation/#

SWOT AnalysisStrengths Weaknesses

• Resources • A variety of social media platform• videos and downloadable brochures

• not very user-friendly• too many contents and classifications on home

page, hard to find the information• Different departments and programs have

different Twitter/ Facebook account, some without official identification

• Social Media include diverse information, without specific focus and not specifically patient-oriented

Opportunities Threats

• affiliated with Harvard Medical School• sufficient resources but overwhelmed

information

• Focus confusion (lifestyle, disease management, care services, research)

• Overwhelmed information, integration and tailoring

Recommendations

✤ Link Twitter/Facebook to Home Page

✤ Gather the focus on social media, integrate the social media of different departments

✤ Highlight patient education/ health information, make them easy to find

✤ Simplify the information

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Mayo Clinic

✤ Rochester, Minnesota

✤ first and largest integrated non-profit medical group practice

✤ #3 hospital (by U.S. News & World Report)

✤ Tertiary care services

Web Strategieshttp://www.mayoclinic.org/patient-care-and-health-information

SWOT AnalysisStrengths Weaknesses

• Clearly classified, easy to find the information• Lifestyles, symptoms, tests, drugs• Newsletters• Plain words • Patient Online Services• iPad and iPhone APP• Education centers

• less detailed contents• What patients can really do• International services, but health information

materials are all in English only

Opportunities Threats

• Patient Online Services: See records and results, interpretation??

• Multi-lingual consumers

Recommendations

✤ Multi-lingual materials

✤ Specific recommendations for patients: what they can do, what changes/benefits they will receive

✤ Interaction between doctors and patients

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United Family Healthcare✤ the first international standard joint-

venture hospital established in China

✤ 1997, private hospital, Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou

✤ doctor team from 20 different countries, bilingual

✤ General hospital, rehabilitation services, primary care , family medicine

✤ gained fame in obstetrics

✤ Training and workshop

✤ superior team, facilities, services, price

Web Strategieshttp://beijing.ufh.com.cn/en/

SWOT AnalysisStrengths Weaknesses

• Lively main page• Information are easily found and clearly

classified (health information, care services)• Focus on health lifestyle promotion• Good use of social media, grassroots• Active interaction between doctors and

consumers• both in Chinese and Mandarin• combination of online and offline activities

• limited followers• patient/ consumer feedback mechanism

Opportunities Threats

• Expanded from gynecology and obstetrics to all departments

• Promote doctors as stars• Celebrity charm

• Public hospitals domain in China (people perception, education and recruitment system)

• High cost, low insurance reimbursement rate

Recommendations✤ Brand redefine: accessible and approachable

✤ Celebrity charm

✤ “every doctor is a brand” (grassroots media)

✤ family medicine, primary care, community-based

✤ cooperation with local media, communities, schools…

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Questions?

Thank You!