Hey Doc, Oh Yes They Are

For the better part of the Social Era physicians have decried the use of social media among their target demographic: grownups and the elderly. But guess what? Dads, Moms and even Grandma are all up in social media tools like Facebook and it’s time you connected with her there.

In fact, a recent Pew Internet Research study found that 71% of adults online are on Facebook and that’s up from this time last year. Really, parents and grandparents are the only real growth areas for Facebook with 45% of people 65 years and older using Facebook. However, it’s not the only site to see growth.

Twitter saw growth among adults. But it’s Pinterest that has the most momentum as over 1/3 of all women surveyed about online use report using the image and idea sharing platform to curate inspiration, health tips, recipes, fashion and other topics – often from people like you.

Okay, let’s admit it. Most of the people offering these bits of hope and information are not nearly as well qualified as you to share ideas in a way that might lead to improved health.

I’m going to guilt you into this. You should be using social media if for no other reason than to make sure that at least some of what women are curating makes sense in the context of a healthy lifestyle.

Hey when grandma falls down and can’t get up, we want her to have a button to push for help. But when we’re trying to coach mothers, grandmothers and other adults we’re willing to let the purveyors of gimmicks lead the way. It’s time for an intervention.

Want more evidence in the case for your being present online?

From a recent study, 54% of patients are very comfortable with their providers seeking advice from online communities to better treat their conditions. It’s evidence that many trust that crowd sourcing of information from other likeminded individuals is reliable. This shows how people perceive social media to be beneficial for the exchange of information about their health. Why shouldn’t you be the one from whom they curate it?

Need a business reason?

41% of people said social media would affect their choice of a specific doctor, hospital, or medical facility. This shows that social media can be a vehicle to help scale positive word of mouth, which makes it an important channel for an individual or organization in the health care industry to focus on in order to attract and retain patients. Consumers are using social media to discuss everything in their lives including health and it is up to your organization to choose whether it’s time to tune in.

How about peer pressure?

Lest you think it’s just patient talking, here’s this from professionals like you: 60% of doctors say social media improves the quality of care delivered to patients.

Wow! So there are doctors (maybe you’re one of them) who believe that the transparency and authenticity that social media helps spur is actually improving the quality of care provided to patients.

So if you’re still saying, “My patient demographic and providers like me don’t take social media seriously” and that “neither patient or doctor is there” – I say, oh yes they are.

Want to talk about it? Hit me up on twitter @timbigfish

Hey Doc, I Hope You'll Try This

The most important part of your social media presence is not what your hospital or practice has to say, but what your patients have to say – especially to one another. Peer-to-peer interaction is the heart of social media. Likewise, it’s an important variable in the health care.

According to a study conducted by the Pew Research Center, more that 7 out of 10 Internet users living with a chronic illness have gone online to find other people with similar health issues. As a trusted source for health care information, you can use social media to reinforce that role by creating a channel for their connectivity. Your effort provides value and supports patients during their journey to wellness.

Unfortunately, too much of what happens in a health care brand’s social media strategy is marketing and public relations centric. “We’re sponsoring a 5K.” “We have the best doctors.” And so on.

What if instead of posting content that merely announces information, you published open-ended content that creates engagement and starts conversation?

Treating your social media as a sort of water cooler for conversations allows you to move in and out of it as teacher and learner. It enables conversations wherein your patients and their friends as fans and followers learn from one another.

Did I just make this up? Nope. “These (social media) tools help us reach so many more people; we can bring shared interactions into our practice and that is powerful. This isn’t in addition to your job. This is part of your job.  This is a conversation, and that is what we are trained to do. We can engage learners, patients and peers,” Farris Timimi, M.D., medical director for the Mayo Clinic Center.

And, social media allows patients to have the conversation that you’re often reluctant to have – the one that says, “it’s going to be alright”.

It starts with “I’m newly diagnosed” or “My loved one is going through a difficult treatment” and all they’re really looking for is somebody who’s been there and can tell them what to expect.

Patients and their friends are hoping to find answers, information, advice and perhaps empathy. They are hoping to find someone who truly “gets it” or who shares their experience and has made it through. They’re even hoping for an opportunity to share hope with another.

You’re not a cynic. You’ve just been conditioned to focus on the serious business of medicine. But that sometimes gets in the way of the hope and promise of medicine - which is what most patients see as medicine’s role.

This notion of hope and connectivity was recently affirmed by a little social experiment. My teammates built a wall, placed it on a street corner in Memphis for one day and invited people to leave a thought related to health. We called it the “I wish you well” wall. There were over 1000 post-it-notes left on the wall and dozens taken by those who happened by.

We learned that patients, family members, friends and passers-by generally want the best for others. They’re notes were hopeful, often funny, sometimes poignant and full of promise. The notes were personal yet widely applicable.

We know that patients want to connect with you, but they also want to connect with one another. You don’t have time to build a wall for post-it-notes. So, use your social media presence to make it happen.

Post a subject header like “What’s the most meaningful thing a friend has done for you during your treatment?”

Your efforts will lead to connections, enable shared experiences and fuel a little hope for better health outcomes.

Come on. Try it. I wish you well.