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Days of Past Futures

Social Media and Health Care: The way

forwardSaturday, 21 September 2015

Pat Rich (@cmaer)

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Who am I?

Work for the Canadian Medical

Association – based in Ottawa,

Canada

Non-profit organization

representing more than 80,000

Canadian physicians

2012 developed “rules of

engagement” about social media

for members

Comprehensive strategy of using

social media for communications

and member engagement

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The future

The past is a foreign country; they do things differently there.–L.P.

Hartley, The Go-Between, 1953

“And we can also truly say, “The future is a foreign country; they do things

differently there.” In considering a future time, you have to reckon with a

whole thing: a complete culture, marketplace, society, community, industry,

and all the things that shape them. Too often we don’t, we take up one

change that we think is powerful and important, and leave most everything

else like it is.

John B. Mahaffie, April 30, 2012 Blog post

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Social media tools

are no longer new

or mysterious

• Facebook >10 years old

• YouTube – just celebrated

10 years

• Twitter in common use for

> 5 years

• First comprehensive social

media guidelines

developed for physicians

and med students more

than 5 years ago

Health care is

changing

… and social media

enables and facilitates

1) social networking,

2) participation,

3) apomediation,

4) openness, and

5) collaboration

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The New World

Main social media sites embedded into our culture (Facebook, Twitter,

YouTube)

Dr. Google first choice for health information (Wikipedia for medical

students)

E-patients using electronic tools and want to be engaged in their health

care

Convergence of digital, mobile and social

Global, instantaneous communication and engagement

Explosion in number of health related apps (but few used more than

once)

“Big data” being used to track disease trends and population-health

Research studies showing social media tools can be used to improve

health in many ways

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A changing environment: Are you digitally literate

enough?

“Today’s medical professionals must be masters of different skills that are

related to using digital devices or online solutions” and mastering those

skills “is now a crucial skill set that all medical professionals require.”

Dr. Bertalan Mesko

The democratization of media has made every physician an independent

publisher …physicians now have to learn to manage and maintain their

identity in the public space,” Dr. Bryan Vartabedian,

From an article by Stephen Pelletier, in the AAMC Reporter,

Aug, 2014

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Where were you when the tide came in?

“Whether doctors choose to engage in social media or not, they

cannot ignore the implications”

“While individual physicians are at different stages in their use of

social media, it is a journey all physicians will eventually take.

Social media is becoming so pervasive its importance as a

channel to keep current on medical findings and to confer with

colleagues is undeniable.”

CMPA October,2014 Supplement

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“We have current roles

and guidelines but times

are changing quickly. By

2017 patients and their

health care providers

are going to be

communicating very

differently.”

Dr. Darren Beiko, Queens

University urologist, July,

2013

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And yet ….

Percentage of Canadian physicians using

social media for professional use

Linked In or Facebook 8.5%

YouTube or Flickr 5.1%

Twitter 3.6%

Blog 4.5%

Source: National Physician Survey 2014

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Unanticipated

consequences

Desire to share information

overriding traditional concerns

about patient privacy and

confidentiality

Wearables rapidly ceasing to be

just personal health devices and

becoming fashion statements

Desire to share information

overriding traditional concerns

about patient privacy and

confidentiality

Narrative medicine on the upsurge

AP Photo

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Predictions

• Use of social media

by health care

professionals will

continue to grow

incrementally

• New tools will

continue to outpace

ethics of their use

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Social media are just tools

… but tools have changed history

- stirrup, plough, gun etc.

Social media are tools of the mind rather

than physical tools

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Predictions

Social media in

conjunction with

scientific breakthroughs,

societal changes and

other unknowns will

transform health care

delivery as we know it

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Salamat!