By Christine Seivers | Posted: May 25, 2012
Hospitals and social media are a great mix, offering a wealth of
opportunities for connecting with the community, patients, and even
collaborating
across
health systems
and between different hospitals. Some medical
groups are wary of the liability and privacy issues that social media
may open up, but others have found ways to manage these concerns and
enjoy the
benefits of using social media. Read on, and you’ll learn about 20
inspiring ways hospitals are using social media, from crisis
communication to
customer service.
1.
Mayo Clinic
The Mayo Clinic has long been an online resource for
medical information,
with a website
that offers advice and expertise from more than 3,300 medical
professionals for free, so it’s not at all surprising that the medical
group has been
successful in social media. In an interview with
Med City News, the Mayo Clinic was named the "poster child for healthcare social media" with
social media chief Lee Aase at the helm. The Mayo Clinic has
its own social media network where patients
can connect, several health promotion campaigns, including "
Know Your Numbers,"
which promotes heart health,
and a healthy presence on just about every social media outlet
available, including YouTube, Twitter, and Facebook. Even Mayo Clinic
doctors are
encouraged to take part in social media. The clinic has been so
successful in social media, in fact, that they are the hosts of the
Health Care Social
Media Summit, most recently held in October 2011 with 375 attendees and a
buzz reaching about 100 tweets per hour.
2.
Rush University Medical Center
At Chicago-based Rush University Medical Center, things get personal
through blogging. Doctors were able to share and connect with readers
and patients
through a first-hand account of relief efforts performed after the 2010
Haiti earthquake. Sent through a text message, Dr. John Fernandez shared
his
experience with Doctors Jeff Mjaanes and Geoffrey Van Thiel, who all
traveled together to the Dominican Republic. Their first-hand story
shared
messages of sacrifice and compassion, including a hungry four-year-old
who saved a breakfast bar for his brother at home, insisting that he
himself did
not need it, and a mother treated for a horrible wound that she got by
going back into her home to save one of her children. Through social
media and
the ease of communication in texting, Dr. Fernandez’s message was able
to be delivered first-hand, and within 48 hours of when it all actually
happened. This one message is not the only one, however, with Dr.
Fernandez and his fellow doctors sharing several updates from the trip,
offering a
story that blog readers were able to follow as it happened.
3.
Massachusetts General Hospital
Social media is all about sharing, especially when it comes to sharing
resources. Massachusetts General Hospital recognizes this, and did
something
amazing when researchers from the Emergency Department worked together
to create an iPhone app designed to help users find the closest
emergency room
to their area anywhere in the U.S. The app was promoted using hospital
social media outlets, creating a YouTube video that bloggers could embed
in
their stories, also providing for opportunities to tweet the video and
share it on Facebook. With the help of social media, the hospital’s app
was able
to stand out in the sea of apps available for the iPhone.
4.
Scott & White Health Care
During the Ft. Hood shooting crisis, one of the hospitals treating
victims, Scott & White, took it upon themselves to share updates
with the
community. Employee Steven Widman offered updates on emergency room
access, hospital operation status, and more, also updating with Red
Cross news and
sharing communications with reporters. The crisis pushed Scott &
White’s communications to the forefront of social media, increasing
their Twitter
followers by 78 percent in only three days, turning Scott & White
Healthcare into a Twitter "trending topic," and ranking the hospital’s
YouTube channel
among the most viewed non-profit channels during the crisis. Both people
who were affected and those who were tuned in from afar were able to
get
real-time updates, thanks to the efforts of Widman and the ability of
social media to share information.
5.
Nebraska Medical Center
Nebraska Medical Center has created an incredible YouTube presence, one so successful, that as
360 Digital Influence
points out,
they’ve had an increase in requests for one surgery in particular. It’s
all thanks to a patient who shared her cancer experience on YouTube,
which led
to so many requests for the surgery she had to treat her rare carcinoid
cancer that NMC had to open a monthly clinic for the condition. The
medical
center encourages patients to
share their experience, and even makes use of
QR codes to share videos of physicians introducing themselves to potential
patients.
6.
University of California San Francisco Benioff Children’s Hospital
Connecting with patients and community members is great, but what if you
could use social media to do something really amazing, like raise more
than $1
million for a new children’s hospital? UCSF did just that, taking on a
social media fundraising contest named Challenge for the Children. About
165,000
people blew past the hospital’s initial $100,000 fundraising goal thanks
to social media channels including Facebook and Twitter. Much of the
campaign’s success ($805,554 worth) was thanks to the Facebook game
FarmVille, which allowed players to purchase virtual candy cane seeds
that sent
100 percent of the profits to the challenge. This amazingly successful
challenge paved the way for a new children’s hospital in Mission Bay,
set for
completion in 2014, and the top two teams will be honored with the
naming of a dedicated space in the hospital.
7.
WakeMed Health & Hospitals
It’s so important to be relevant to the topic at hand in social media,
and getting off course can turn off would-be fans. But WakeMed Health
&
Hospitals in Raleigh, North Carolina made a smart move in April 2011,
sharing a time-lapse video shot from the hospital’s helipad that showed a
tornado
as it passed through the area. Although the tornado is a non-medical
story not directly related to the hospital’s mission, hospitals are a
vital part
of any community, and in sharing this video, WakeMed further cemented
itself as a valuable resource for the Raleigh area.
Med City News
praised
WakeMed for the video, pointing it out as one of the top blog entries
for the medical group. As WakeMed spokeswoman Heather Monackey shares,
they’ve
found success in social media because they "just pay attention to what’s
going on."
8.
Texas Health Resources
Hospitals are using social media to connect internally, in addition to
community building. At Texas Health Resources, social media tools make
it
possible for physicians and other health professionals to engage with
each other and take advantage of useful tools. Using social media, Texas
Health
Resources promotes the adoption of electronic health records, and
integrates the use of the private microblogging site Yammer to share
internal
messages, how-to videos, and more. Project managers and physicians use
social media tools like Yammer to come together, collaborate, and
communicate
effectively over a large hospital system.
9.
Geisinger Health System
Health care social media isn’t just about attracting patients and
building community, at least not for Geisinger Health System in
Danville,
Pennsylvania. The health system typically turned to ads in medical
journals and direct mail to recruit gastroenterologists, but when they
had trouble
getting enough responses, associate vice president of marketing Cathy
Connolley turned to social media to recruit their physicians. With the
help of a
recruitment marketing firm, Geisinger created a social media physician
recruitment campaign, creating a convenient and cost-effective way to
communicate with physicians, and an easy way to direct
gastroenterologists to their Facebook page. As Connolley reports, "that
tactic outpaced our
direct mail approach and our email blasts."
10.
Henry Ford Hospital
Live-tweeting brain surgery just sounds like crazy talk, but Henry Ford
Hospital near Detroit made it work. While performing surgery on a
47-year-old
man, doctors discussed the procedure with more than 1,900 people, and
even uploaded video of the surgery to YouTube. Things seem to go to the
next
level when the answer to Twitter’s "What are you doing?" question is
brain surgery. The hospital earned praise and attention from
ABC News,
and showed off just how well they can make use of social media. In
addition to Twitter brain surgeries, Henry Ford Hospital makes use of
news feeds, Flickr, and blogging to reach patients and the general
community.
11.
Scripps
Scripps makes it a point to connect with patients and customers through the use of social media. In an interview with
Found In Cache,
Scripps director of web technology Marc Needham
shared that the hospital typically spends its social media time on
customer service. In fact, Scripps developed a new position of
Electronic Customer
Service Representative, specifically created to reach out to patients
through social media and respond to online reviews. Needham pointed out
that
Scripps believes it’s important to have a good handle on their online
brand perception, and left unchecked, "unaddressed complaints fester and
lead to
online reputation rot." Scripps has found success in this pursuit, but
Needham says they haven’t quite defined their social media approach just
yet,
and they’re still experimenting with a variety of different sites,
including Wikipedia, YouTube, Flickr, Facebook, and LinkedIn. Scripps
tends to use
different sites for different purposes, like Facebook for recruitment
and LinkedIn for employee connections.
12.
Children’s Hospital Boston
Children’s Hospital Boston has a wildly popular Facebook page. A
Facebook page alone isn’t quite enough to be truly impressive these
days, but
Children’s Hospital Boston really stands out, not just for its half a
million plus fans, but really for its top-notch content. Their landing
page has
information people really want to read, and an encouraging atmosphere
that gets patients and fans to open up and share their stories. This
high level
of engagement is truly inspiring, and offers a great lesson for any
Facebook Page owner. Through photos of the week, Children’s Hospital
Boston
highlights families and patients, who in turn spread the word to their
friends and family on Facebook, bringing fans and patients to the
Facebook Page
to interact. But, as
Ignite Social Media
points out,
Children’s Hospital Boston does so much more than Facebook, effectively
managing a Twitter feed and YouTube video collection as well.
13.
Sarasota Memorial Hospital
Sarasota Memorial Hospital understands the value to building better relationships through social media. In an interview with
The Side Note,
the
hospital’s market research manager Shawn Halls shared how it came to
begin using social media as an important tool. After growth and more
than three
years of use, Sarasota Memorial now sees Twitter and other sites as an
important part of their communications strategy, using social media as a
way for
the community to directly communicate with the hospital. The hospital
encourages patients to direct message their Twitter account, and has
even been
able to connect patient family members with resources like local
florists through the site. Like other hospitals, Sarasota Memorial also
has plans to
share surgery via Twitter, specifically a brain mapping procedure where
the patient is awake.
14.
Greater Baltimore Medical Center
Social media is great for spreading news, but it’s also a useful tool
for correcting misinformation as well. The Greater Baltimore Medical
Center knows
that fact all too well, as in August 2010, a Baltimore TV station
incorrectly reported that the hospital had been invaded by an armed
robber. GBMC
media relations manager Michael Schwartzberg was able to act quickly to
correct the mistake, sending out a swift collection of tweets that set
the
story straight for the public and concerned citizens. With active social
media accounts already in place, the foundation for sharing information
was
set and easy to take advantage of, something that the hospital utilizes
frequently. Schwartzberg reports that in addition to media relations and
customer service, GBMC uses social media as a valuable way to share
crisis communication, much like their fake armed robber, H1N1 updates,
and if need
be, disaster reporting.
15.
Inova Health
Just like GBMC, Inova Health found value in Twitter’s ability to set
incorrect information straight. Inova uses a security system designed to
prevent
the theft of babies from maternity wards, and as hospital personnel ran a
test of the system, a visitor heard it and mistakenly believed that
there was
a lost baby. That same visitor then tweeted about the non-incident.
Director of digital communications and marketing Chris Boyer had wisely
set up
social media monitoring services, and quickly spotted the tweet within
just minutes of posting. After calling to confirm that there was not
actually a
problem, Boyer was able to immediately respond on Twitter and share the
hard facts of the story, helping to preserve the hospital’s reputation
before
things got really crazy. Inova Health’s story shows just how important
it is to use tools that can help you monitor and stay on top of your
social
media presence.
16.
Children’s Medical Center Dallas
Living organ donation is an amazing gift and process, and Children’s
Medical Center was able to share a special family’s story through
Twitter. As a
Texas firefighter donated his kidney to his three-year-old son, the
Twitterverse was able to follow along with their successful story from
start to
finish, shared by none other than the mom and wife. With nearly 85,000
people on the waiting list for a kidney, Children’s Medical Center media
relations manager Jessica Newell hopes that "twittering from this
surgery will help raise awareness for organ donation, as well as living
organ
donation."
17.
University at Buffalo School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences
Twitter and social media in general can be a scary thing for hospitals,
opening up issues of liability and uncomfortable situations. But at
least at
the University at Buffalo School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences,
doctors and professors recognize Twitter as an incredibly valuable tool
for
learning and training. Dr. Philip L. Glick shares his insight: "[A] lot
of the training consists of passing on information, lessons learned, and
wisdom
to the next generation. Twitter allows us to dramatically scale up our
ability to do this. When I post something on Twitter, all the pediatric
surgeons, trainees and colleagues in the country and the world can see
it instantly." In addition to small updates, University at Buffalo uses
social
media to share audio and video of procedures, breaking them down into
small pieces that offer opportunities for sharing and teaching.
18.
St. Luke’s Cedar Rapids
Anxious groups of families and friends sit in hospital waiting rooms
across the country, hoping to hear updates and news that their loved one
is doing
well. Some will find out about things as they go along, some simply when
procedures are over. The level of information shared largely depends on
the
capacity and availability of the team of medical professionals at work.
With Twitter, the time and energy necessary to share updates with loved
ones is
significantly decreased, and small, frequent updates can be shared in
just moments, creating an opportunity for hospitals to better inform
worried
waiting rooms as things go along. At St. Luke’s Cedar Rapids, one family
was able to enjoy this incredible level of customer service, as their
70-year-old mother Monna Cleary underwent a hysterectomy and uterine
prolapse surgery. Cleary had given her OK for the hospital to share a
play-by-play
of her operation, and hospital spokeswoman Sarah Corizzo shared more
than 300 tweets, allowing the family to follow along, and informing the
general
public. Corizzo answered questions, and fascinated nearly 700 people who
followed along with the surgery. Hospital spokeswoman Laura Rainey
pointed out
that live-tweeting is a "more gentle" way to inform patients and
consumers, allowing them to follow what’s going on without shocking
visuals. Cleary’s
son Joe and his siblings appreciated the opportunity, pointing out that
"it made the time go by," and they enjoyed having real-time information
and
staying informed while in the waiting room.
19.
Southcoast Health System
Sharing information during a crisis is vital, even when you don’t have a
lot of time or resources to do it. So when more than 50 people had to
go to
hospitals for treatment following a chemical fume exposure at a trash
disposal station, Southcoast Hospital turned its Twitter account into a
"crisis
communication portal," sharing status updates for more than a week.
Updates included status on admitted, discharged, and treated patients
during the
spill, and helpful information and links that kept the public and
concerned loved ones constantly updated during the situation.
20.
Barnes-Jewish Hospital
Hospitals are full of stories that the community is interested in, with
people overcoming great odds and going on to live healthier lives. At
Barnes-Jewish Hospital, a 23-year-old heart transplant patient Megan
Moss attracted lots of local interest, thanks to
updates from the Barnes-Jewish Hospital blog, Touching Base. Additionally, Megan’s dad shared constant updates
through his own blog.
Moss’s story attracted
so much attention, that one weekend, she got 75 emails through the
hospital’s website with well wishes from friends, family, and strangers
alike.
Through numerous updates and even a video interview with the hospital’s
director of heart transplant, both Moss and Barnes-Jewish got much
deserved
attention within the community.
This post originally appeared at the
Medical Billing and Coding blog.
by: Joshua James Harding BSc Hons (MS2)
iLiver,
developed by the European Association for the Study of the Liver
(EASL), is an iPhone/iPad application for professional use.
