Comments on: Open Your Mind: 29 Uses of Twitter for Medical Practices

By: 101 Ways to Use Twitter in Your Hospital

101 Ways to Use Twitter in Your Hospital — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 15:44:25 +0000

[...] Announce new locations: Let followers know when you’re opening up a new branch or department of the hospital. [...]

By: Mary Pat Whaley

Mary Pat Whaley — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 22:28:24 +0000

Thanks for your comment, Andrzej.

All new tools deserve brainstorming and discussion to fully explore their potential.

As a patient, I would be willing to sign off on having my physician’s office contact me via Twitter to let me know that the doctor was running late. Would it work for all patients and all physician offices? Probably not. Could it work for some and make the physician office more efficient and the patient more satisfied? Most definitely!

Mary Pat

By: Andrzej

Andrzej — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 02:00:16 +0000

Interesting theory, but given that medical information can be highly sensitive, and Twitter has no guarantee of privacy (by definition, Twitter is a 3rd party in between the physician and the patient), so much information cannot be legally transmitted using twitter.

The authors intention is admirable, but the realities of privacy legislation with respect to healthcare info makes many applications non-starters.

For example, you cannot even send a reminder of an appointment, since the physician might specialize in HIV or mental health, and since Twitter is not private/encrypted end to end, it might inadvertantly reveal that a patient is seeing a doctor for a “sensitive” condition.

Not gonna fly.

Pity”¦but such is life.

By: ManageMyPractice.com: Technology, Information & Resources for the Medical Practice Manager | The Healthcare IT Guy

Fri, 17 Apr 2009 11:43:02 +0000

[...] Open Your Mind: 29 Uses of Twitter for Medical Practices [...]