This document summarizes best practices in healthcare social media based on interviews with experts. It finds that social media educates patients, humanizes providers, and allows bidirectional communication. Experts recommend starting simply, evaluating content value, and ensuring privacy and legality. Institutions should use mobile and social platforms to engage customers, share pictures and links, and market directly to patients. Overall, social media is changing healthcare by improving access and efficiency while facilitating new forms of communication between providers and patients.

1. Best Practices in
Healthcare Social Media
Presentation for #NewhousePRSM
with @DR4WARD
#hcsmbp
8.18.12
Nichole Wenderlich
@nwenderlich

2. What You’re Getting Yourself Into
Where I’m coming from
Overview of project goals
Interviews with hcsm GODS
Their actions, suggestions & advice
Conclusions re: best practices for hcsm = #hcsmbp

3. Employed by
St. Joseph’s Hospital Health Center
@StJosephsHealth

4. •Newly designed website – www.sjhsyr.org
•Patient portal – My St Joseph’s – allows for scheduling classes, making appointments
with doctors
•Links to social media – including discussion boards/healthcare communities run by St.
Joseph’s
•Self-selected health-tip text message campaign
• Videos from doctors
•Health library
•Blog from CEO

5. Project Goals
 For the Social Media Graduate Class taken at Newhouse
University (@Newhouse_U) at Syracuse University
(@Syracuse_U) with Dr. William Ward (@DR4WARD) I set
out to identify:
Best practices within healthcare social media (#hcsmbp)
Interviewed experts in hcsm including*
 Practitioners
 Researchers
 Healthcare Institutional Representatives
 Healthcare Marketers
*Individuals may represent more than one category

6. HC Practitioner Perspective
Howard Luks, MD
@hjluks
http://www.howardluksmd.com
Orthopedist | Social Media~HCR Consultant
Why is it important for doctors to be on social media?
“To educate patients! Why should the information you share be constricted
by the four walls of your office? So much information is shared through
social media, why should accurate information related to healthcare be any
different?”

7. Benefits of SM
 Patients become educated – provides for an efficient, effective
and less stressful visit.
 SM humanizes your presence – patients are more comfortable.
 Bi-directional communication following visits.

8. Benefits & Best Practices
Why do I share information?
“85% or patients utilize the Internet to research their disease,
physician or healthcare institution.”
Lack of education, training
Provides tools to allow for more docs to engage
Reach patients on multiple channels
 Providers can also use sm to discuss amongst themselves and
continue learning.

9. Jumping In
 Doctors should not use sm for the purpose of marketing,
however, it may be a byproduct of it.
 How would one start? Create a simple blog or website. Docs
create content on a daily basis  put it online to share with
others.
 After initial start, determine level of involvement with sm.
How to Differentiate Your Practice
Video via The Doctors Channel & @NicolaZiady

10. HC Pro/Teacher Perspective
Bertalan Meskó, MD
@Berci
http://www.webicina.com/
Medical doctor, founder of Webicina.com, speaker, blogger, university
lecturer, health 2.0 consultant, Wikipedia administrator doing PhD in
genomics.
World’s 1st & only free service of curated medical sm resources in over
80 medical topics in over 17 languages.

11. Benefits & Best Practices
 How should docs start? Take Social MEDia Course on Webicina,
however, more important is simple practice.
 Not every doc has to create content, but every doc needs to be
aware of it or how to find it.
 Docs need to be aware of and use sm – be able to refer patients to
online support groups, tools, etc., and share info with other docs.
Importance of Social Media in Medicine
Video via The Doctors Channel & @NicolaZiady

12. Best Practices
If creating content – evaluate.
Are you creating value?
Don’t jump on band wagon.
Docs need to be aware of privacy and legality issues.
SM supports doc/patient relationship, but should never
replace.
Be creative. Even surgeons like games.
Education is the key. Teaching med students value of sm –
just discussed @ Stanford.

13. HC Institution Perspective
Nicola Ziady
@nicolaziady
http://nicolaziady.com/
“Social Scientist” & HCSM Marketing Manager @ClevelandClinic (her tweets do
not represent her employer)
Due to a family emergency, I was unable to speak with Nicola,
however, I did gather much insight from her website, tweets and
The Cleveland Clinic’s use of sm.

14. What Patients Want
Via Mobile
Phones

15. For full infographic, visit:
http://twitpic.com/9o7dzq

16. Hospitals/Docs Use
 81%* of surveyed American physicians use smart phones
 30%* of doctors use the Apple iPad - EMR, view radiology
images & communicate with patients
iPad Pilot Programs
Display unit during surgery
X-Ray, EKG, patient monitoring
Data entry during MD rounds
Patient education, distraction, prep
*May 2011 Manhattan Research survey “Taking the
Pulse U.S.”

17. HC Institution Facebook Tips
Read this before you order lunch:
http://bit.ly/NjcE64
• Pictures
• Branding
• CTA link to blog
• Medical experts
• Timing
• Engaging content
• Bi-directional

18. HC Marketer Perspective
JOHN J. NOSTA
@JohnNosta
http://www.johnnosta.com
#1 Kred-ranked influencer in health and included in the 2012
PHARMA 100 list.
EVP, Senior Strategist at Ogilvy CommonHealth Worldwide
 SM is beginning to save lives.
 Distance is dead.
 Best practice is practice.
 EMR allows for informed decisions.

19. Groundbreaking Uses
SM allows for evolving dynamic between patients and
doctors.
Text/video “check-ups”
Video monitoring of patients at home
Patients monitoring their own diseases
Digitizing of patient diaries
Electronic development of customized patient education
materials
An iPhone device for measuring
blood sugar for diabetics
(Image credit: AFP/Getty Images via @daylife)

20. Groundbreaking Uses
SM allows for marketing direct to patients.
Exact targeting
Provider/Patient win-win: opt in
Don’t just push info on sm –
new ways to respond, engage

21. Apps for Doc/Patient Comm
 40% of physicians use medical apps on a daily basis
 Benefits
Decreases costs, increases efficiency
Improving communication
Giving patients the tools to be responsible for their own health
HIPPA secure messaging
 Additional Resources
 5 ways mobile apps streamline patient-doctor communication bit.ly/P3yNZv via
@Michelle_writes
 Mobile Apps The Future of Healthcare is Already at Your Fingertips #infographic via
@greatist @RockHealth http://pinterest.com/pin/38773246762692568/

22. Overall Best Practices/Conclusions
Electronic Medical Records (EMR) are a given.
Future: all info will be online – collected @ all touch points.
Providers should be on sm – even if it is just to practice.
SM is not going away in hc – docs need to be educated –
about benefits and legalities.
Interactions in hc are getting smart. Both docs & patients
want it.
SM is changing the face of hc – those who keep up will be the
ones who benefit.
SM marketing can pinpoint patient needs.

23. Recommendations for
@StJosephsHealth
Institute a training program for docs re: benefits, legalities,
resources and how-to of sm.
Encourage development of apps and/or smart phone use.
Continue to refine marketing to needs/wants of patients.
Start a hospital blog with expert authors, relevant info. Push
through SM channels.
Work to actively engage hc community through sm (vs.
pushing info).
Continue transition to EMR.

24. Thank you!
nwenderlich@yahoo.com
@nwenderlich
Linkedin.com/in/nicholewenderlich