The Uses for Health Care Social Media #hcsm

Many physicians have expressed a disinterest in social media. We all agree it must not be used for patient interaction because of HIPAA which prohibits sharing of patient information.

However during the past three years physician interest and use of social media has markedly increased.

Symplur Signals details how Health Care Social Media impacts health care and your medical practice.

More than 40% of consumers say that information found via social media affects the way they deal with their health. 

18 to 24 year olds are more than 2x as likely than 45 to 54 year olds to use social media for health-related discussions. - 

90% of respondents from 18 to 24 years of age said they would trust medical information shared by others on their social media networks.  (this amounts to mouth-to-mouth verbal referrals. Millenials use Social Media as true social interaction among friends. This provides an avenue for patient referrals, and must not be ignored. 21st Century medicine is far different than even three or four years ago.

30% of adults are likely to share information about their health on social media sites with other patients, 47% with doctors, 43% with hospitals, 38% with a health insurance company and 32% with a drug company.  

31% of health care professionals use social media for professional networking. - 

For a complete listing of the uses for health care social media

24 Outstanding Statistics & Figures on

How Social Media has Impacted the 

Health Care Industry

These are some of the published journal articles that have employed 

Symplur data in their research.

• The impact of social media on a major international emergency medicine conference.
  Neill, A., Cronin, J. J., Brannigan, D., O’Sullivan, R., & Cadogan, M. (2013). The impact of social media on a major international emergency medicine conference. Emergency Medicine Journal, emermed-2012. Chicago
• Social media in radiology: early trends in Twitter microblogging at radiology’s largest international meeting.
  Hawkins, C. M., Duszak, R., & Rawson, J. V. (2014). Social Media in Radiology: Early Trends in Twitter Microblogging at Radiology’s Largest International Meeting. Journal of the American College of Radiology, 11(4), 387-390.
• International Urology Journal Club via Twitter: 12-Month Experience.
  Thangasamy, I. A., Leveridge, M., Davies, B. J., Finelli, A., Stork, B., & Woo, H. H. (2014). International Urology Journal Club via Twitter: 12-Month Experience. European urology.
• Use of social media in urology: data from the American Urological Association (AUA).
  Loeb, S., Bayne, C. E., Frey, C., Davies, B. J., Averch, T. D., Woo, H. H., … & Eggener, S. E. (2014). Use of social media in urology: data from the American Urological Association (AUA). BJU international, 113(6), 993-998. Chicago.
• Social media: A tool to spread information: A case study analysis of Twitter conversation at the Cardiac Society of Australia & New Zealand 61st Annual Scientific Meeting 2013.
  Ferguson, C., Inglis, S. C., Newton, P. J., Cripps, P. J., Macdonald, P. S., & Davidson, P. M. (2014). Social media: A tool to spread information: A case study analysis of Twitter conversation at the Cardiac Society of Australia & New Zealand 61st Annual Scientific Meeting 2013. Collegian.
• e-Patients in Twitter Hashtag Communities.
  Harmel M, Young K. e-Patients in twitter hashtag communities . J Participat Med. 2013 Jan 16; 5:e22
• Nurses and Twitter: The good, the bad, and the reluctant.
  Wilson, R., Ranse, J., Cashin, A., & McNamara, P. (2013). Nurses and Twitter: The good, the bad, and the reluctant. Collegian. Chicago.
• Twitter Use at a Family Medicine Conference: Analyzing #STFM13.
  Mishori, R., Levy, B., & Donvan, B. (2014). Search Family Medicine Share Links. Fam Med, 46(8), 608-14. Chicago.
• The Dramatic Increase in Social Media in Urology.
  Matta, R., Doiron, C., & Leveridge, M. J. (2014). The Dramatic Increase in Social Media in Urology: Trends in Twitter Use at the American Urological Association and Canadian Urological Association Annual Meetings in 2012 and 2013. The Journal of urology.
• The social media revolution is changing the conference experience: analytics and trends from eight international meetings.
  Wilkinson, S. E., Basto, M. Y., Perovic, G., Lawrentschuk, N., & Murphy, D. G. (2014). The social media revolution is changing the conference experience: analytics and trends from eight international meetings. BJU international.
• Social Media and Pediatric Hospital Medicine: How Our Discipline Benefits From a Virtual Community and Why It Matters for Our Future.
  Webber, E. C., Fu, P., & McKenna, M. P. (2014). Social Media and Pediatric Hospital Medicine: How Our Discipline Benefits From a Virtual Community and Why It Matters for Our Future. Hospital pediatrics, 4(1), 51-53.
• Social Media Responses to the Annals of Emergency Medicine Residents’ Perspective Article on Multiple Mini-Interviews.
  Joshi, N. K., Yarris, L. M., Doty, C. I., & Lin, M. (2014). Social Media Responses to the Annals of Emergency Medicine Residents’ Perspective Article on Multiple Mini-Interviews. Annals of emergency medicine, 64(3), 320-325.
• Global Emergency Medicine Journal Club: Social Media Responses to the January 2014 Online Emergency Medicine Journal Club on Subarachnoid Hemorrhage.
  Chan, T. M., Rosenberg, H., & Lin, M. (2014). Global Emergency Medicine Journal Club: Social Media Responses to the January 2014 Online Emergency Medicine Journal Club on Subarachnoid Hemorrhage. Annals of emergency medicine, 64(1), 88-94.
• Using social media for continuous professional development.
  Moorley, C., & Chinn, T. (2014). Using social media for continuous professional development. Journal of advanced nursing.
• Networking opportunities for learning disability nurses.
  Abdulla, S., Marsden, D., Wilson, S., & Parker, M. (2013). Networking opportunities for learning disability nurses: Samuel Abdulla and colleagues explain why social media offer professionals new opportunities for information sharing, discussion and peer support. Learning Disability Practice, 16(5), 30-32.
• Using Twitter for professional knowledge.
  Kraft, M. A. (2013). Using Twitter for professional knowledge. Journal of the European Association for Health Information and Libraries, 9(4), 10.
• A Study on the Influence of Semantics on the Analysis of Micro-blog Tags in the Medical Domain.
  Vicient, C., & Moreno, A. (2013). A Study on the Influence of Semantics on the Analysis of Micro-blog Tags in the Medical Domain. In Availability, Reliability, and Security in Information Systems and HCI (pp. 446-459). Springer Berlin Heidelberg.
• Twitter for Public Health: An Open-source Data Solution.
  Nghiema, S., Mehtab, P., & Taoc, L. Twitter for Public Health: An Open-source Data Solution. Chicago.
• The Use Of Social Media In Endourology: An Analysis Of The 2013 World Congress Of Endourology Meeting.
  Canvasser, N. E., Ramo, C., Morgan, T. M., Zheng, K., Hollenbeck, B. K., & Ghani, K. R. (2014). The Use Of Social Media In Endourology: An Analysis Of The 2013 World Congress Of Endourology Meeting. Journal of Endourology, (ja).
• Twitter hashtags for health: applying network and content analyses to understand the health knowledge sharing in a Twitter-based community of practice.
  Xu, W. W., Chiu, I. H., Chen, Y., & Mukherjee, T. (2014). Twitter hashtags for health: applying network and content analyses to understand the health knowledge sharing in a Twitter-based community of practice. Quality & Quantity, 1-20.
• The emerging use of Twitter by urological journals.
  Nason, G. J., O’Kelly, F., Kelly, M. E., Phelan, N., Manecksha, R. P., Lawrentschuk, N., & Murphy, D. G. (2014). The emerging use of Twitter by urological journals. BJU international.
• #Urology Is Trending in Social Media.
  Bayne, C. E., Murphy, D. G., & Loeb, S. (2014). # Urology Is Trending in Social Media. Reviews in Urology, 16(3), 152.
• Social Networks, Social Media, and Innovating Surgical Education
  Ravinder, S., Vohra, M. D., & Elizabeth, Q. (2014). Social Networks, Social Media, and Innovating Surgical Education.
• Review of Twitter for Infectious Diseases Clinicians: Useful or a Waste of Time?
  Goff, D. A., Kullar, R., & Newland, J. G. (2015). Review of Twitter for Infectious Diseases Clinicians: Useful or a Waste of Time?. Clinical Infectious Diseases, civ071.
• Social Media in the Emergency Medicine Residency Curriculum: Social Media Responses to the Residents’ Perspective Article
  Hayes, B. D., Kobner, S., Trueger, N. S., Yiu, S., & Lin, M. (2015). Social Media in the Emergency Medicine Residency Curriculum: Social Media Responses to the Residents’ Perspective Article. Annals of Emergency Medicine.

Data from Symplur