Social Health Care: Connecting Toward a Healthier Future
Social technologies are affecting the way our world operates as they become more and more established and interconnected. Individuals are using Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and a wide variety of other forms of social media to communicate, connect, and share. The way many communicate with their family, friends, employers, and strangers has changed as social media has as well. Individuals can have closer contacts with those who live far away and stay up to date with those who they many not see everyday. As well as individuals ability to communicate more than they ever have before, the way they do things is changed due to social media and mobile technologies. More specifically, social technologies are affecting health care, connecting and collaborating to a healthier future. People worldwide are sharing information that can be accessed from any place, at any time. Not only is social media changing the nature of the way we access information, but it's also changing the speed of which we retrieve the information. Patients, doctors, and health care organizations can connect quicker and easier then they once could, providing important information to mass amounts of people at one time when needed, and sharing information creating a interconnected approach to health services. Individuals no longer have to wait in a doctors office for hours to find out the answer to a question they have as they can rely on social media; they can check their symptoms or type their question in on a website, such as www.webmd.com, and get instant answers from doctors without leaving their home. At the same time, individuals can post a question on a social media site and get answers and opinions from a large group of people including family, friends, doctors, and any one else who may stumble across the post. Social media has changed the way our world, and more specifically health care, connects to create a healthier future.

Health care has gone through tremendous amounts of changes since social media has emerged. At one time, patients were passive recipients of knowledge, relying solely on the information that one doctor has given them at any specific time. Results were not discusses and people would not go to others for advice or answers to medical questions or concerns they had. Today, however, through the use of social media, individuals are sharing more than they ever have, relying on the information from others, connecting and communicating for knowledge. After visiting a new doctor, having a procedure, or going for surgery, individuals can easily tell others about the experiences they had, sharing reviews of the doctor, and updates but posting and commenting on social media sites. Medications and treatments can also receive reviews by consumers, informing others of potential risks, benefits, and other concerns they may have. Patients can share health-related images and videos and providers post quizzes to provide users with important information in an engaging way. PwC shares snapshots of recent activity, demonstrating how through social media users are asking questions such as, “when do you deliver your baby? - ea...

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