The use of social media for implementing diagnoses, consultation, training, and case reporting among medical professionals to improve patient care: A case study of WeChat Groups across healthcare settings in China (Preprint)

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lai Sze Tso
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Social Media ◽  
Patient Care ◽  
Health Professionals ◽  
Resource Sharing ◽  
Low Cost ◽  
Hospital Staff ◽  
Medical Professionals ◽  
Bottom Up ◽  
Healthcare Settings

BACKGROUND Health professionals in low and middle resource settings often have limited access to the most up-to-date resources for diagnosing and treating illnesses, training medical students and hospital staff, reviewing newly disseminated guidelines and publications, and preparing data to contribute to international public health reporting. A concomitant difficulty in high resource settings is the need for continuing education and skills up-training in innovative procedures on unfamiliar social media platforms. These challenges often cause delays in both patient care and epidemiological surveillance efforts. To overcome these challenging, health professionals have adapted WeChat Groups to implement timely, low-cost, and high-quality patient care. OBJECTIVE The primary aim of this study was to describe the bottom-up approach adapted across networks of medical professionals to collectively overcome resource shortages. The secondary aim was to delineate the pathways, procedures, and resource sharing implemented by medical professionals using an international publically available popular social media app. METHODS In-depth interviews, observations, and digital ethnography of WeChat Groups communications were collected from medical professionals in interconnected networks of healthcare facilities.. Participants’ WeChat Groups usage and observations of their professional functions in these interconnected networks were collected from November 2018-2019. Qualitative analysis and thematic coding were used to develop constructs and themes in NVIVO. Constructs incorporated descriptions for the implementation and uses of WeChat Groups for professional connections, healthcare procedures, and patient care. Themes supporting the constructs focused on the pathways and venues used by medical professionals to build trust, to establish and solidify online networks, and to identify requests and resource sharing within WeChat Groups. RESULTS There were 58 participants (male 36, female 22) distributed across 24 healthcare settings spanning geographical networks in south China. Analysis yielded 4 constructs and 11 themes delineating the bottom-up usage of WeChat Groups among clinicians, technicians, nurses, pharmacists, and public health administrators. Participants used WeChat Groups in collectively training hospital staff in complex new procedures, processing timely diagnoses of biological specimens, staying abreast of latest trends and clinical procedures and symptoms, and contributing to case-reporting for emergent illnesses and international surveillance reporting. An unexpected strength of implementing clinical, training, and research support on a popular app with international coverage is the added ability to overcome administrative and geographic barriers in resource distribution. This advantage increased a network’s access to WeChat Group members both working within China and abroad, greatly expanding the scope of share resources. CONCLUSIONS The organic, bottoms-up approach of repurposing extant social media app functions is both low-cost and efficient in timely implementation for improving patient care. The international user base of WeChat Groups enables medical staff to access a widespread professional network across geographic, administrative, and economic barriers, with potential to reduce health disparities in low resource setting.

Instagramming our way through public health communication: why and who is using it?

2020 ◽  
Vol 30 (Supplement_5) ◽  
Author(s):  
R Vareda ◽  
T Garcia ◽  
J Rachadell
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Social Media ◽  
Health Promotion ◽  
Health Professionals ◽  
Cross Sectional Study ◽  
Communicable Diseases ◽  
Healthy Lifestyles ◽  
Communication Tool ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Non Communicable Diseases

Abstract Background From disease prevention to health promotion, communication is key for Public Health (PH) practice and, according to the 9th Essential Public Health Operation its goal is to improve populations health literacy and capacity to access, understand and use information. Though social media is frequently presented as a potentially useful tool for PH communication, there is a lack of evidence about its effectiveness and impact on PH outcomes. This study researches Instagram® as a PH tool and aims to know who is using it, what content is shared on the platform and how much engagement there is. Methods This cross-sectional study regards information on 1000 Instagram® posts with the hashtags publichealth, publichealthpromotion, healthpromotion, publichealthmatters and publichealtheducation. Authors categorized post content and creators, and reviewed the number of likes and comments per post to determine engagement. Data analysis was performed on IBM SPSS® Statistics. Results The most common content categories were communicable diseases (n = 383), non-communicable diseases (n = 258) and healthy lifestyles (n = 143). Health professionals post more about communicable diseases (43,6%) and non-professionals about healthy lifestyles (36,1%). Non-professionals (n = 191) post about PH issues almost as much as health professionals (n = 220) and PH associations (n = 201). Most don't reference their sources (n = 821). Posts on communicable diseases have the most likes and comments per post (mean of 172 likes and 3,1 comments). Conclusions Half the Instagram® posts analysed in this study were made by health professionals or organizations. Communicable diseases, non-communicable diseases and healthy lifestyles were the most frequent content categories and had the most engagement. The majority of posts didn't reference their sources. Though Instagram® seems to be a potential PH communication tool, further research is needed to confirm its benefits for PH. Key messages Social media platforms like Instagram® are potentially powerful tools for PH communication. There is a need to understand the efficacy of social media as health promotion tools.

scholarly journals Health Information Seeking Behaviors on Social Media During the COVID-19 Pandemic Among American Social Networking Site Users: Survey Study (Preprint)

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephen Neely ◽  
Christina Eldredge ◽  
Ron Sanders
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Social Media ◽  
Health Information ◽  
Health Care Providers ◽  
Health Professionals ◽  
Information Seeking ◽  
Care Providers ◽  
Related Information ◽  
Public Health Officials ◽  
Health Consumers

BACKGROUND In recent years, medical journals have emphasized the increasingly critical role that social media plays in the dissemination of public health information and disease prevention guidelines. However, platforms such as Facebook and Twitter continue to pose unique challenges for clinical health care providers and public health officials alike. In order to effectively communicate during public health emergencies, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, it is increasingly critical for health care providers and public health officials to understand how patients gather health-related information on the internet and adjudicate the merits of such information. OBJECTIVE With that goal in mind, we conducted a survey of 1003 US-based adults to better understand how health consumers have used social media to learn and stay informed about the COVID-19 pandemic, the extent to which they have relied on credible scientific information sources, and how they have gone about fact-checking pandemic-related information. METHODS A web-based survey was conducted with a sample that was purchased through an industry-leading market research provider. The results were reported with a 95% confidence level and a margin of error of 3. Participants included 1003 US-based adults (aged ≥18 years). Participants were selected via a stratified quota sampling approach to ensure that the sample was representative of the US population. Balanced quotas were determined (by region of the country) for gender, age, race, and ethnicity. RESULTS The results showed a heavy reliance on social media during the COVID-19 pandemic; more than three-quarters of respondents (762/1003, 76%) reported that they have relied on social media at least “a little,” and 59.2% (594/1003) of respondents indicated that they read information about COVID-19 on social media at least once per week. According to the findings, most social media users (638/1003, 63.6%) were unlikely to fact-check what they see on the internet with a health professional, despite the high levels of mistrust in the accuracy of COVID-19–related information on social media. We also found a greater likelihood of undergoing vaccination among those following more credible scientific sources on social media during the pandemic (<i>χ</i><sup>2</sup><sub>16</sub>=50.790; <i>φ</i>=0.258; <i>P</i><.001). CONCLUSIONS The findings suggest that health professionals will need to be both strategic and proactive when engaging with health consumers on social media if they hope to counteract the deleterious effects of misinformation and disinformation. Effective training, institutional support, and proactive collaboration can help health professionals adapt to the evolving patterns of health information seeking.

scholarly journals It Will Take a Global Movement to Curb Corruption in Health Systems Comment on "We Need to Talk About Corruption in Health Systems"

2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (11) ◽  
pp. 662-664
Author(s):  
Margot I. Witvliet
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Health Systems ◽  
Health Professionals ◽  
General Public ◽  
Global Scale ◽  
Medical Professionals ◽  
Contributing Factors ◽  
Public Health Professionals ◽  
The World ◽  
Global Movement

Corruption in health systems is a problem around the world. Prior research consistently shows that corruption is detrimental to population health. Yet public health professionals are slow to address this complicated issue on a global scale. In the editorial entitled "We Need to Talk About Corruption in Health Systems" concern with the general lack of discourse on this topic amongst health professionals is highlighted. In this invited commentary three contributing factors that hamper public dialogue on corruption are discussed. These include (i) corrupt acts are often not illegal, (ii) government and medical professionals continued acceptance of corruption in the health systems, and (iii) lack of awareness within the general public on the extent of the problem. It is advocated that a global movement that is fully inclusive needs to occur to eradicate corruption.

scholarly journals Communication mediums used by patients and health professionals during access and provision of healthcare in low resource settings: A cross-sectional study

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mathias Dongyele ◽  
Daniel Ansong ◽  
Francis Osei Adjei ◽  
Evans Xamuzu ◽  
Nicholas Karikari Mensah ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Health Professionals ◽  
Health Workers ◽  
Hospital Staff ◽  
Cross Sectional Study ◽  
Health Providers ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Reminder System ◽  
Face To Face ◽  
Almost All

Abstract Background: The issue of mediums to communicate to make enquiries to a hospital in finding out the type of services available, availability of physicians and beds at the receiving hospitals, and a reminder system remains a challenge for patients and providers of the health service in the Sub-Sharan Africa. This present study sought to review the existing healthcare communication mediums from the perspectives of patients and health professionals at the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital, KumasiMethod A cross-sectional design was employed with a multilevel sampling method to select a total of 651 participants consisting of 304 patients, 303 health workers and 44 hospital directorate managers for the study. A well-structured survey questionnaire was used to collect data from respondents.Results Most hospital staff (66.4%) used a blend of social media and direct means (face-to-face medium) for communicating among themselves whereas 89.8% only communicates with management through meetings sections. Predominantly, 97.4% of the staff communicated by direct means (face-to-face medium) with patients. Almost all the management of the hospital communicated with the general public using mediums like letters and official memos.Conclusions There is evidence of combination of both traditional mediums (face-to-face) and the technological mediums (social media) for communications by health providers and health consumers. However there is a dissatisfaction with delayed information flow and poor feedback with the use of these available mediums. Therefore, a digital mobile application communication system is recommended to offer efficient communication within and outside the Ghanaian health facilities.

scholarly journals The Expert Next Door: A Commentary on Interactions with Friends and Family During the SARS-CoV-2 Pandemic

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrea R Molino ◽  
Kathleen M Andersen ◽  
Simone B Sawyer ◽  
Lan N Ðoàn ◽  
Yonaira M Rivera ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Social Media ◽  
Health Professionals ◽  
Professional Knowledge ◽  
Additional Stress ◽  
Personal Lives ◽  
Public Health Professionals ◽  
Personal Accounts ◽  
Share Information

Abstract The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic thrust the field of public health into the spotlight. For many epidemiologists, biostatisticians, and other public health professionals, this caused the professional aspects of our lives to collide with the personal, as friends and family reached out with concerns and questions. Learning how to navigate this space was new for many and required refining our communication depending on context, setting, and audience. Some of us took to social media, utilizing our existing personal accounts to share information after sorting through and summarizing the rapidly emerging literature to keep loved ones safe. However, those in our lives sometimes asked unanswerable questions, or began distancing themselves when we suggested more stringent guidance than they hoped, causing additional stress during an already traumatic time. We often had to remind ourselves that we are also individuals experiencing this pandemic, and that our time-intensive efforts were meaningful, relevant, and impactful. As this pandemic and other public health crises continue, we encourage our discipline to consider how we can best use shared lessons from this period, and recognize that our professional knowledge, when used in our personal lives, can promote, protect, and bolster confidence in public health.

scholarly journals Communication mediums used by patients and health professionals during access and provision of healthcare in low resource settings: A cross-sectional study

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mathias Dongyele ◽  
Daniel Ansong ◽  
Francis Osei Adjei ◽  
Evans Xamuzu ◽  
Nicholas Karikari Mensah ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Health Professionals ◽  
Health Workers ◽  
Hospital Staff ◽  
Cross Sectional Study ◽  
Health Providers ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Reminder System ◽  
Face To Face ◽  
Almost All

Abstract Background: The issue with communication mediums during service provision and for making enquiries to a hospital on the type of services available, availability of physicians and beds at the receiving hospitals, and a reminder system remains a challenge for patients and providers of the health service in sub-Sharan Africa. This present study sought to review the existing healthcare communication mediums from the perspectives of patients and health professionals at the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital, Kumasi Ghana. Method: A descriptive cross-sectional design was employed with a multilevel sampling method to select a total of 651 participants consisting of 304 patients, 303 health workers and 44 hospital directorate managers for the study. A well-structured survey questionnaire was used to collect data from respondents. Results: Most hospital staff (66.4%) used a blend of social media and direct means (face-to-face medium) to communicate among themselves whereas 89.8% only communicates with management through meetings sections. Predominantly, 97.4% of the staff communicated by direct means (face-to-face medium) with patients. Almost all management members of the hospital communicated with the general public using letters and official memos. Conclusions: There is evidence of combination of both traditional mediums (face-to-face) and the technological mediums (social media) for communications by health providers and health consumers. However, there is a dissatisfaction with delayed information flow and poor feedbacks with the use of the traditional mediums. Therefore, a digital mobile application communication system is recommended to offer efficient communication within and outside the Ghanaian health facilities.

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