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 In a nine-month experiment with liver-transplant patients,
researchers found that participants came to rely heavily on a closed
Facebook group, both for information about their condition and help
in coping.
“Ninety percent of Americans are on the internet and 80 percent are
using platforms such as Facebook and Twitter to find healthcare
information from a supportive online community,” said Dr. Sean
Langenfeld, of the Department of Surgery at the University of
Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha, who wasn’t involved in the study.
“It’s a very powerful tool and offers a great way to facilitate
communication among those suffering from abdominal pain or migraines
to individuals diagnosed with cancer.”
For the current study, Dr. Vikrom Dhar of the University of
Cincinnati College of Medicine in Ohio and his colleagues created a
closed Facebook group that ultimately had a total of 350 members,
about half of whom were liver transplant patients, 36 percent were
family and friends and 14 percent were healthcare providers.
Of the 78 healthcare providers who were part of the hospital’s liver
transplant team, 49 were active members of the group, including 7
out of the 16 physicians.
The researchers monitored the group’s interactions and surveyed a
subset of participants after nine months.
Dhar’s team found that engagement with the group was high, and 83
percent of participants posted or reacted to others’ posts at least
once per month. While patients tended to post supportive messages or
inspirational content, the healthcare providers mainly posted
educational information.
After nine months, 95 percent of the survey participants said that
joining the group had a positive impact on their care, and 97
percent said their main motivation for joining was to get support
from other patients and to provide it.
Social media also allows for patient-practitioner interaction
between visits to the hospital or clinic, the study team notes in
the journal Surgery.
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This is especially important for those suffering from
alcohol-related end-stage liver disease, Dhar said. “Previous
reports in literature have suggested that patients who have
appropriate social support have lower rates of alcohol relapse
following transplantation,” he told Reuters Health in an email.
“Thus, by using social media platforms, physicians may offer social
support resources to patients who otherwise may suffer from
disparities in accessing such care.”
Still, healthcare providers remain hesitant to engage patients
through social media, the study team writes.
A 140-character tweet can result in misinterpretation of medical
advice. Without a disclaimer, doctors risk being liable, Langenfeld
noted. What’s more, the line between personal and professional
engagement is, at best, blurred.
“Never assume there is privacy on the internet,” Langenfeld said in
a telephone interview. “Statistics are vague, but in recent years
over 50 percent of medical boards have inflicted serious punishment
as a result of irresponsible online behavior.” This includes
irresponsible behavior unrelated to one’s medical specialty.
It makes sense that the number of teaching hospitals offering social
media responsibility courses is on the rise, Dhar said.
“Our study shows that in appropriate settings, physicians can
utilize social media platforms including Facebook to create content
that patients find positively impacts their healthcare.”
SOURCE: http://bit.ly/2jWlmz1 Surgery, online November 29, 2017.
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