This post is by SmartBrief’s Elizabeth Collins.
Most of us have either been to a hospital for our own medical needs or have at least had a family member or loved one who landed in a hospital. It can be overwhelming and lonely.
Patients these days can take some comfort in knowing that their health can benefit from technology in ways far beyond receiving a diagnostic scan from a cutting-edge device or having robot-guided surgery. They can reap the real benefit of community support by connecting with others — be it other patients with the same medical condition, or family and friends — through social media before, during and after a hospital stay.
The benefit of community support doesn’t stop with the patient, either.
One of the things highlighted in a recent multipart blog series written by a stomach cancer surgery patient, Dr. Jessie Gruman, and her husband, Dr. Richard Sloan, was that Sloan found out how important social media is as a patient’s family member.
“We all know about the value of social support in medicine,” Sloan, a behavioral medicine professor, wrote in his Nov. 4 blog entry, noting that when he set up a website about Gruman’s Sept. 27 surgery, he expected that people’s messages would help her. “What I didn’t expect, but what I received, was a remarkable amount support myself. It helped me get through a tough few days and has sustained me in the weeks since then,” he adds.
Last year, news of the then-late-breaking practice of tweeting from inside the operating room hit the media — an improved method of keeping family in the waiting room or anywhere across the globe up to date on the patient’s status. It is fortunate that, while patients themselves deserve the bulk of the attention, some of the focus is also being shifted to making things easier for the anxious loved ones.
As the health care system calls on all of us to be more involved, we should remember that if we’re planning a trip to the hospital we may want to set up and announce a blog before we even pack that hospital bag. If/when we get there in an emergency situation, we can turn to any number of social-media outlets to reach people who need to know and to take comfort in their support.
Image Credit: reflekta, via iStock Photo
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This is SOOO spot on! When my daughter was in the hospital, I used CarePages to keep my family and friends all connected. It's like a blog site for patients and their families. You set up an account, invite your family members and friends to sign up, and they get updates whenever you add an entry to it. It was a LIFESAVER for me – and gave them a great deal of comfort.
Each day I'd post one or two entries about how my daughter was doing. It saved me from having to spend HOURS on the phone with EACH family member and friend repeating the progress over and over. It eliminated potential inaccurate information being relayed by a well-intentioned phone tree. If a family member wasn't on email or a computer (my grandfather, for example) – someone who was (my dad) could simply read the updates to him straight from CarePages – no inaccurate info and everyone stayed involved. There was also the option to post comments, messages of support and well wishes to my daughter and me.
Most importantly, using this social media tool gave me time back to be with, and care for, my daughter while keeping those who love us up-to-date.
Interesting concept, but would seem to raise many of the same privacy issues as is mHealth. I spoke last month at an FDA town hall in Irvine, CA where I highlighted the advantages that social networking and mHealth will bring to medical device outcomes and related treatment. Medical mfrs are awaiting the green light to enter into this new space. I can see how this will integrate into the entire scheme of medical care, of course, with adequate controls and standards.
Stephen Dolle
California
We strongly believe in the support through social media for patients, family and their informal care.
This is exactly what we have been doing at Radboud University Nijmegen Medical Center with our AYA4-community.
We builded in several standard social networks and connect the patients through and in a secure environment. once connected they can connect through these social networks also, thus leaving our secure environment, just like they do in our waiting rooms, in the hall etc. We tend -as HC professionals and institution- to think we have to control everything. They appreciate it enormously.
http://web.me.com/umcn/Radboud_Reshape_Center/AYA…
Film is in Dutch but will be English subtitled version on YouTube as of tomorrow on the webpage.
Lucien Engelen (@zorg20)
[...] aggressive treatments they may not want, according to a major national study released Tuesday. Connecting patients — and patients’ families — with the social support they need Patients these days can take some comfort in knowing that their health can benefit from [...]
Social Networks are a pivotal media for improving support and recovery. Kairos Healthcare has launched a new Addiction Recovery Chat http: //www.kairoshealthcare.com/free-recovery-chat where individuals and their families in recovery can develop supportive relationships.
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Nancy W., I need to change our, "meeting," from Motel 6 to the Curry Motel. I'll bring the condoms and you bring the lube!