It looks like the academic world has started to adapt to the ‘healthcare 2.0′ and embrace the idea of using social media. The Springer Publisher Company has put out a new book in their “Nursing Education” category – Social Media For Nurses. From their press release:
The guide promotes the dramatic and positive ways in which social media is changing health care, an evolution that the authors believe is marked by its allowance for greater provider-patient communication and patient independence. For example, social media and relatively new communication tools give practitioners greater opportunity to monitor patient adherence to self-care and drug compliance. Such communication can even come remarkably close to an office visit with video conferencing tools such as Skype, allowing the health care provider to visually inspect anything about which the patient may have questions or concerns. For remote patients or those unable to visit a health care provider or facility, this enhanced communication is especially significant.
Having read the first chapter, I will say I am impressed. It is an academic take on the subject, but for many in healthcare, its a perfect teaching tool and starting point for training. For a nurse right out of school, a lot of this will redundant information, but for many, this serves as a great teaching tool. The first thing that came to mind is that it would be the perfect course work for a nurses continuing education, and I hope to see more training and books like this developed.
