Healthcare IT News Staff
In this new social media environment researchers and clinicians need to engage more actively with the public to articulate the importance of science in determining the benefits and harm of novel treatments and to ensure that patients' concerns and priorities are heard, according to new study published in Nature.
The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs has contracted with F4W, Inc. for its core communication systems. The systems will be placed at VA's twelve Emergency Management Strategic Healthcare Group (EMSHG) regional offices nationwide, providing VA with secure, resilient communications in the event of natural disasters and other emergencies.
The National eHealth Collaborative (NeHC) on April 26 convened 80 representatives of consumer-facing organizations ranging from patient advocates to government agencies for the inaugural meeting of the Consumer Consortium on eHealth. The goal: To encourage individuals to become more engaged in health and healthcare throught the use of information technology.
Smartphone apps are increasing in popularity and are being widely used in healthcare as health apps, but more research needs to be conducted on their efficacy as patient adherence tools, according to a survey by Consumer Health Information Corporation (CHIC).The survey was distributed to smartphone consumers at affiliated universities, businesses and posted on Facebook in April 2011. Survey results were collected from 395 respondents.
Health-focused social networks may prove to be a viable source for chronic disease surveillance, according to researchers at Children's Hospital Boston.Using a combination of Facebook-like tools and personally controlled health records, researchers at Children's Hospital Boston have engaged members of an online diabetes social network as participants in public health surveillance, according to a study published April 27 in PLoS ONE by Elissa Weitzman, ScD, MSc, and Kenneth Mandl, MD, MPH, of the Children's Hospital Informatics Program (CHIP).
Social media could prove to be a valuable method for gathering real time information on patient treatment to help determine drug effectiveness sooner, according to a new study of patients with ALS.
Wayne Memorial Hospital has implemented the nurse call integration feature of the HealthAlert for Nurses technology from Fort Wayne, Ind.-based EXTENSION. The 316-bed facility can now automate the delivery of clinical information and nurse call messages.
The Health Information Trust Alliance (HITRUST) announced its plans to support the healthcare industry in 2011 and beyond with initiatives aimed at maintaining the comprehensiveness and relevance of the Common Security Framework (CSF) and CSF Assurance program.
While many doctors shy away from use of the Internet because of concern over HIPAA penalties, one company is advising the physician community to not become victim to HIPAA hand-wringing and fall out of sync with their colleagues who have learned how to responsibly utilize today's most valuable online visibility tools.
Despite the Food and Drug Administration's (FDA) reluctance to release guidelines on health care companies' use of social media, a recent survey measuring the sentiments of social media "power users" in the health space revealed that the online community supports healthcare company engagement in social media and feels it has the strong potential to significantly benefit both consumers and the healthcare industry.