patient support groups on facebook
DESCRIPTION
Presentation at e-Patient Connections 2011TRANSCRIPT
Social Media in HealthcareOverview and Current Realities
Ed Bennett
University of Maryland Medical System
e-Patient ConnectionsPhiladelphia, PA | September 20, 2011
How Hospitals Use Social Media
Customer Service
Community Outreach
Education
Public Relations
Crisis Communications
Recruitment
Brand Monitoring
Hospital Social Media Types
Rapid Growth: YouTube and Twitter
Hospital Values Social Media Values
Risk averse Risk taking
Information from authoritative sources
Network Reputation
Privacy and security regulated Anyone can publish anything
Data tightly controlled Information freely distributed
Tight intellectual property Use licenses with few restrictions
Special Issues for Healthcare Professionals
HIPAA / PHI
Professional vs. Private presence
Appropriate use
Social Media access on hospital networks
Professional Guidelines / HR policies
Finding answers in the “grey zone” “The Placenta
Incident”
Patient Support Groups on Facebook
University of Maryland Medical Center currently has four groups:
Post Liver Transplant
Digestive Diseases
Hepatitis C
Trauma Survivors
First group launched in March 2011 – between 10 and 40 members
Patient Support Groups on Facebook
Requested by our patients
Restricted to our patients
Outgrowth of traditional IRL groups
Managed by the same group leader
Set up and Sanctioned by the UMMC Communications Department
Patient Support Groups on Facebook
Mix of Closed & Secret Groups
Members must be approved by Moderator
Posts are private to the group
Secret groups are invisible, do not show up in FB search results
Reviewed and approved by UMMS Legal
Patient Support Groups on Facebook
Results:
Activity level varies by group
Support, knowledge exchange
“Does this happen to anyone else?”
Mix of health and other topics
Events and projects like a group luncheon
Ed Bennett
Director, Web & Communications TechnologyUniversity of Maryland Medical System
Phone: 410-328-0771Email: [email protected] / [email protected] Web: umm.edu - ebennett.orgTwitter: @edbennett
Presentation and resource links:
http://ebennett.org/ePatientConnections