Social Media and Electronic Health Records: Connecting Patients & Providers

Can the technology and understanding developed from social networks improve patient outcomes by providing a more reliable, complete, and easier way for patients and providers to communicate with each other? What areas of patient-provider and provider-provider communications must be first addressed before attempting to implement the principles of social networking in health care? This study provides preliminary answers to such questions by triangulating methods – including a web-based survey of providers, paper surveys of patients, in-depth interviews of elite stakeholders, and a systematic review of the literature – to generate a conceptual model of how to integrate social networking principles into current and future EMR systems. In all cases, I focused my questions on beliefs about social networking, the willingness on providers’ and patients’ parts to use alternative means of communicating about health, and the economic and political challenges associated with extending the use of electronic medical records (EMRs). My main findings are that both patients and providers express an overall high interest in using EMR systems that utilize principles of social networking to help them communicate with each other and manage medications and track health measures. Providers are wary of traditional forms of social networking, likely because of privacy concerns, but are interested in new ways to communicate with their patients. Finally, although there are significant age and education differences among patients who use traditional Internet technologies, there is evidence that among those who do have Internet access, social networking may be a more equitable avenue of communication with patients. I conclude by suggesting a conceptual model that provides a picture of how the principles of social networking could be applied to current and future expectations for EMRs.Master of Public Healt