The document provides a summary of best practices in healthcare social media based on interviews with healthcare practitioners, researchers, institutions, and marketers. Key recommendations include educating doctors on the benefits of social media for connecting with patients; encouraging hospitals and doctors to utilize mobile apps, online resources, and social media to communicate with patients; and transitioning to electronic medical records to improve information sharing and patient engagement. Overall, social media is changing healthcare delivery by facilitating smarter interactions between doctors and better-informed 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