Carolyn Der Vartanian was previously the program manager for Blood Watch and the Clinical Excellence Commission from 2006 to 2013. She won a scholarship to study social media use in healthcare. Her study tour included conferences in London, Dublin, Rochester, and Washington DC. She found that social media is important for healthcare but requires training staff, policies, and engagement. At the Clinical Excellence Commission, she helped establish social media use and training. She has since advocated for social media use in healthcare through conferences, presentations, and online discussions.

1. Carolyn Der Vartanian
Previous Program Manager (2006-2013)
Blood Watch, Clinical Excellence Commission
@carolyndv

2. The challenge of engagement
 Clinical engagement- critical to success for CEC &
Blood Watch
 Fast tracking evidence into practice…too slow!
 New initiatives – The Transfusion Question campaign
2008/09
 New PBM Guidelines. What else can we do in 2010?

3. HARC Scholarship
 HARC Scholarship – I won!
 Environmental scan – what had been published? Not a
whole lot.
 Study Tour:
 World Social Media Forum, London
 World Non-Profit & Social Marketing Conference, Dublin
 Mayo Clinic Centre for Social Media, Rochester MN
 Kaiser Permenente – Washington DC
 Survey of 500 Australian healthcare workers

4. Key Learnings
 Social media is everyone's business – even in health
care
 Not a PR tool- social media strategy should be
underpinned by strategic goals and comms plan
 Train staff, empower them and teach them to use it
responsibly- provide policy and guidance
 Foster champions, back them – Mayo example
 Make serious plans for how you will actively listen and
engage with your online community
 Plan for ‘bad media’ – no knee jerk reactions!
 Survey Results- many myths and fears.

5. Meanwhile at the CEC…
 Draft Policy - more a guideline – use it appropriately
 Invitation to MCCSM & Lee Aase by HARC to come to
NSW – November 2011
 Working with Lee Aase – CEC &ACI staff training:
Twitter, Facebook, Blogs
 Staff got on board- mainly with Twitter. Some very
actively!
 Established project Twitter handles: @SepsisKills

6. Sepsis amplified across the world!

9. Conversion!
Professor X: 60 plus yrs of age, clinician for over 30 yrs,
Director in a government agency- multiple programs.
Why do you use Twitter?
“It brings the people and information I’m most interested
interested in to ME. I don’t have to go looking for it.”
2 days later….
“I’ve realised I’m actually missing out on 50% of the value of
value of Twitter. I have to tweet. Tweet things that are
important. I have to be part of the conversation”

10. Dissemination
 I talked and talked and talked…for 2 years
 Twitter chats- ISQUa, British Columbia Patient Safety
and Quality Council (@BCPSQC) Quality Chat,
#HCSMANZ weekly
 Conference Tweeting – HIC, iTransfuse, HARC forum
 Think Tanks – NSW Ministry of Health, Sth Western
Sydney LHD
 Presentations- iTransfuse, CEC, Australian Health
Promotion Association National Conference, AHPA
NSW event
 Education – ARCBS staff, CEC staff, ISQUA website.

11. Game Changer?
Social Media in Health Care
 Bringing new knowledge
to the CEC
 Debunking the myths
 Ideas into action
 Talking to everyone and
anyone
 We have moved on since
2011
Personal/Professional
 Highly rewarding
 An avenue for new ideas
 I got some of it wrong!
 Professional
development
 Presentation skills
 Practice what I learnt
 Seeking new info-
conferences
 I’m still talking about it!

12. THANK YOU!
Email:
carolyn.dervartanian@ca
nceraustralia.gov.au
Follow me on
LinkedIn or @carolyndv
Member: The
#Walking
Gallery
The Heart of
the Matter by
@ReginaHoli
day