presentation given for th MSc in Leadership & Management Development, at the Institute of Leadership, RCSI

1. Social Media: Friend or Foe to Healthcare?
Muireann O'Keeffe, Institute of Leadership , RCSI

2. Today’s workshop
Aim: is to explore what social media is and its potential use
in health care settings
• Introductions
• My online identity…………………..Your online identity?
• Social media in the headlines
• What is Web 2.0/ social media?
• Benefits and Challenges
• Dealing with Information overload
Group activity: Design a strategy involving social media that could
address a problem existing in your professional practice

3. My online identity
Muireann O’Keeffe

4. Twitter - Why I use it
• Ranked as Top tool for learning (http://c4lpt.co.uk/top100tools/)
• Tool to support my professional development
• I share and collect information relating to my discipline via twitter
• Conferences: continues dialogue, commentary and
networking, backchannel
• Support mechanism for my studies & research

6. Twitter on Grey’s Anatomy

7. What is Social Media?
• What is your definition of social media?
• Any website that allows social interaction between people
• Communities of people who share interests and/or activities, or
who are interested in exploring the interests and activities of others
• Bottom up approach to collaboration rather that top down
• The use of web-based and mobile technologies to turn
communication into interactive dialogue
• Web 2.0 refers to interactions on social media to encourage
participation, collaboration and knowledge creation

8. History of Social Media

9. Evolution of Participatory Internet

10. In the Headlines……………………….

13. Flash Mobs
The power of Social Media to organise collective
action

14. Healthcare practitioners using
Social Media?
How are healthcare practitioners
using Social Media?

17. How is social media used in
Healthcare settings?
• Healthcare recruitment – LinkedIn
• Communicating with employees
• Health campaigns – Twitter & Facebook
• Apps/ Games: mobiles/ tablets
Data From http://www.slideshare.net/KarenOBrien/healthcare-and-social-media

21. Social Media in Healthcare
What are the Opportunities for patients?
• Public Health alerts
• Monitoring flu outbreaks
• E-doctoring (Anne Cunningham)
• Social & psychological support
• Academic research

22. Social Media in Healthcare
Enables …………
• Engagement
• Participation
• Collaboration
• Empowered patients

23. E-patients – empowered patients
Patient E-patient
Passive role Active engaged role
Information is given to them They seek out information (internet)
Top down delivery of healthcare Partner in their healthcare
Paternalistic medicine Participatory medicine
What is an e-patient?
From http://www.slideshare.net/KarenOBrien/healthcare-and-social-media

24. Social Media in Healthcare
What Challenges face patients using social media?
• Reliability of information
• Dr. Google
• Information overload
• Other patients dispensing advice
• Confidentiality/ safety

25. Information Overload of Social
media

26. Managing Information Overload
• Filtering of information
• Involvement in medical social
networks in fields of interest
• Crowd sourcing clinical questions
in correct fields/communities
• Knowing the communities
• Trust is fundamental, established
relationships
• Need to learn about digital literacy

27. Dealing with Information overload……….

28. Research into Social Media in Health

29. Health 2.0: how interactive Web sites
are changing the healthcare industry

30. Realizing the promise of Web 2.0:
engaging community intelligence

31. Summary
• Social Media is here to stay
• Many social media tools, ever increasing
• Potential to create a rich engaging environment
• Patients become active participants and rather passive consumers
• Patients want to be empowered to build their needs into any
technology on offer
To think about.....
• Best practice/policies
• Digital literacy
• Online Data reliability
• Online identity

32. References & acknowledgments
Thank you fellow Tweeters for helping shape this presentation 
Healthcare and Social Media:
http://www.slideshare.net/KarenOBrien/healthcare-and-social-media
Boulos, M., Wheeler, S., (2007)The emerging Web 2.0 social software: an
enabling suite of sociable technologies in health and health care
Education. Health Information and Libraries Journal, 24, pp.2–23
Blog: Anne Marie Cunningham: Wishful thinking in medical education
http://wishfulthinkinginmedicaleducation.blogspot.ie/
Centre for Learning & Performance Technologies (C4LPT)
http://c4lpt.co.uk/jane-hart/