Patients connecting with physicians via social media

While some physicians may dread the idea, patients are increasingly eager to connect with them via social media. Increasingly, patients are seeing this as a way around the limitations of traditional practice models, which include limited hours and playing phone tag with doctors.

"Friending" doctors on Facebook and the like is a natural, and probably unavoidable, outgrowth of existing trends, experts note. After all, according to one study by Manhattan Research of 9,000-odd U.S. adults, 5 percent of respondents had sent or received an email message to a doctor, and 49 percent wanted to do so in the future. And these days, social networking is a short step up from email.

When patients connect with doctors online, some have focused on getting routine chores done, such as prescription refills and having health questions answered. But others have gone as far as sending important messages--such as requests for help with serious issues--directly to their doctor via Facebook. In some cases, when they're dealing with e-friendly physicians, they've gotten quicker answers that way

CDC turns to social, mobile media for swine flu updates

The outbreak of swine flu, otherwise known as the H1N1 virus, has pushed government agencies, particularly the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, to embrace all kinds of social media and mobile technologies for disseminating information and attempting to quell fear. YouTube, Twitter, RSS feeds, podcasts, embeddable widgets and informational e-cards are all parts of the strategy.

In fact, the CDC is getting record traffic to its swine flu site, and has had twice the number of people sign up for email alerts than for the peanut recall earlier this year.

"Public health agencies are our largest sector of clients," Scott Burns, CEO of technology contractor GovDelivery, tells Government Computer News. "CDC and the state health agencies do the best job of this type of communication. I think they would make the private sector jealous."

iPhone app for swine flu is on its way

Swine flu has been in the American consciousness for about a week now, and, as the iPhone commercials say, "there's an app for that." Almost.

QxMD Software, which specializes in applications for the iPhone and BlackBerry, has submitted "H1N1 Update for Mobile Professionals" to Apple for approval. The app includes worldwide news feeds on the H1N1 virus, Twitter updates from the CDC and links to patient and clinician educational material from clinical information service UpToDate.

QxMD is soliciting additional information sources from public health agencies and news services.