Friday, October 1, 2010

Mayo Clinic's Social Media Health Network

Recently, we heard that the folks at the Mayo Clinic began something called the Center for Social Media. Now, they've formed the Global Social Media Health Network. Here's a snippet from the recent press release:
"We believe the Social Media Health Network will be a significant force for learning how to apply social media tools effectively in the health context," says Victor Montori, M.D., medical director for Mayo Clinic Center for Social Media. "It will be a vehicle for us to share what we've learned about social media, including our training resources, and for others to join us in learning together and developing best practices. Ultimately, we want to help health-related organizations of all sizes and types to harness these powerful communication tools to help patients and improve human health globally." See the post on the Mayo Clinic Center for Social Media site for more information, including video from Dr. Montori.
It's great to see that social media is gaining tremendous traction and momentum in the health care space, but do doctor's really get it? Do they understand the value of social media? Do they know how to use it effectively? I think there are some significant gaps that need to close before we start seeing the majority of physicians using social media tools effectively in the health care context.

1 comment:

  1. Thanks for this post. We agree that we all have lots to learn about social media in health care, but that's the point of our Center for Social Media as well as the Social Media Health Network...to gather ideas and experiences so we can learn together and accelerate adoption of social media to promote health, improve health care and fight disease...by involving patients with providers.

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