HEALTHCARE & ONLINE CONSUMERSKaitlyn FranceseRutgers UniversityInformation Technology for Evidence based practice

OBJECTIVES• Describe the characteristics of online consumers • Discuss the benefits and risks of social media• Examine the implications of the internet and social media on health

consumers• Identify ethical issues related to the use of internet and social media.• Analyze the role of INS in the use of internet and social media

CONSUMER CHARACTERISTICS• Of the 125 million Americans who have

access to the internet 80% of them have sought out health information online

• Women are more likely to seek online health information than men

• 30-40% access the internet at home• Health information consumers look for

information on an as needed basis

(Lewis, et al., 2010)

CONSUMER CHARACTERISTICS (CONT.)

• 93% of online health consumer search for information on a specific health issue• 55% of these people do so to prepare for

a doctor’s visit• 30% use the internet to search for

providers• 19% use the internet to seek

information on sexual health issues• 33% search for information on topics

that they are uncomfortable discussing with other people.

(Cotten & Gupta, 2004)

SOCIAL MEDIA BENEFITS• Increase communication among family, friends, consumers, peers, etc.• Allows for a more rapid exchange of knowledge• Allows health care organizations to raise awareness about programs,

national and local health news, and stories of health related interest• Allows hospitals to highlight their success such as awards, recognitions,

patient success stories and customer outreach

(Suby, 2013)

SOCIAL MEDIA BENEFITS (CONT.)• Source of disaster management information

• During the Boston Marathon tragedy, the three main hospitals that victims were taken to used Facebook to update the community on the current disaster status.

• They also used Facebook status updates to alert the community of the changes of the day-to-day activities, such as appointments during the following week.

• Real time satisfaction surveys• Food and product safety alerts

(Suby, 2013)

SOCIAL MEDIA RISKS• Reputation Management

• Organizations must be aware of all social media they are involved in and be able to respond appropriately in order to maintain a good reputation

• Inaccurate information being spread as facts• Loss of productivity among employees

• Example:• “Using this percentage to calculate dollars lost to work interruptions from social

media technologies, for a full-time employee at an average salary of $30/hr, the lost productivity will cost the company $7,800 a year. For organizations with 1000 employees, these interruptions cost more than $7 million annually” (Suby, 2013, p.144).

IMPLICATIONS OF SOCIAL MEDIA & THE INTERNET

• Among internet users, social media reaches a vast majority of the population regardless of education, race/ethnicity or access to healthcare

• Social media is a high impact area that must be utilized to reach the maximum amount of people

• The digital divide must be combatted to reach all levels of individuals.

(Chou, Hunt, Beckjord, Moser, & Heese, 2009)

ETHICAL ISSUES• Privacy Issues

• " Two nurses from a Wisconsin hospital photographed a patient’s X-ray and one posted it on her personal Facebook profile. An anonymous caller alerted local police to the photo’s presence and related online discussion among the nurses. The nurses were both fired from the hospital and faced action from the state licensing board” (Suby, 2013, p.143).

• Sharing health information online for 2nd & 3rd opinions• Risk of privacy loss through the use of wearable fitness trackers ie: FitBit• Crowdsourcing- family/friends posting health information online to get

help/opinions

(Denecke, et al., 2015)

ROLE OF AN INS• Become a link between doctors and

patients to help create a cohesive relationship through the internet and social media

• Creating policies to increase accuracy of information available to online consumers and increase safety to patient privacy

• Empower patients to use online tools to manage their care

REFERENCESChou, W. S., Hunt, Y. M., Beckjord, E. B., Moser, R. P., & Heese, B. W. (2009). Social media use in the United States: implications for health communication. Journal of Medical Internet Research, 11(4).Cotten, S. R., & Gupta, S. S. (2004). Characteristics of online and offline health information seekers and factors that discriminate between them. Social Science & Medicine, 59(9), 1795-1806.Denecke, K., Bamidis, P., Gabarron, E., Househ, M., Lau, A. Y., Mayer, M. A., Hansen, M. (2015). Ethical issues of social media usage in healthcare. Yearbook of Medical Informatics, 10(1), 137-147.Lewis, D., Eysenbach,G., Kukafka,R., P. Zoe Stavri,P., Jamison, H. & Warner, S. (2010). Consumer Health Informatics: Informing Consumers and Improving Health Care, SpringerVerlag, Health Informatics Series, New YorkSuby, C. (2013). Social media in health care: benefits, concerns, and guidelines for use. Creative Nursing, 19(3), 140-147.