20 Hospitals With Inspiring Social Media Strategies

Hospitals and social media are a great mix, offering a wealth of opportunities for connecting with the community, patients, and even collaborating across health systems and between different hospitals. Some medical groups are wary of the liability and privacy issues that social media may open up, but others have found ways to manage these concerns and enjoy the benefits of using social media. Read on, and you’ll learn about 20 inspiring ways hospitals are using social media, from crisis communication to customer service.

  1. Mayo Clinic

    The Mayo Clinic has long been an online resource for medical information, with a website that offers advice and expertise from more than 3,300 medical professionals for free, so it’s not at all surprising that the medical group has been successful in social media. In an interview with Med City News, the Mayo Clinic was named the "poster child for healthcare social media" with social media chief Lee Aase at the helm. The Mayo Clinic has its own social media network where patients can connect, several health promotion campaigns, including "Know Your Numbers," which promotes heart health, and a healthy presence on just about every social media outlet available, including YouTube, Twitter, and Facebook. Even Mayo Clinic doctors are encouraged to take part in social media. The clinic has been so successful in social media, in fact, that they are the hosts of the Health Care Social Media Summit, most recently held in October 2011 with 375 attendees and a buzz reaching about 100 tweets per hour.

  2. Rush University Medical Center

    At Chicago-based Rush University Medical Center, things get personal through blogging. Doctors were able to share and connect with readers and patients through a first-hand account of relief efforts performed after the 2010 Haiti earthquake. Sent through a text message, Dr. John Fernandez shared his experience with Doctors Jeff Mjaanes and Geoffrey Van Thiel, who all traveled together to the Dominican Republic. Their first-hand story shared messages of sacrifice and compassion, including a hungry four-year-old who saved a breakfast bar for his brother at home, insisting that he himself did not need it, and a mother treated for a horrible wound that she got by going back into her home to save one of her children. Through social media and the ease of communication in texting, Dr. Fernandez’s message was able to be delivered first-hand, and within 48 hours of when it all actually happened. This one message is not the only one, however, with Dr. Fernandez and his fellow doctors sharing several updates from the trip, offering a story that blog readers were able to follow as it happened.

  3. Massachusetts General Hospital

    Social media is all about sharing, especially when it comes to sharing resources. Massachusetts General Hospital recognizes this, and did something amazing when researchers from the Emergency Department worked together to create an iPhone app designed to help users find the closest emergency room to their area anywhere in the U.S. The app was promoted using hospital social media outlets, creating a YouTube video that bloggers could embed in their stories, also providing for opportunities to tweet the video and share it on Facebook. With the help of social media, the hospital’s app was able to stand out in the sea of apps available for the iPhone.

  4. Scott & White Health Care

    During the Ft. Hood shooting crisis, one of the hospitals treating victims, Scott & White, took it upon themselves to share updates with the community. Employee Steven Widman offered updates on emergency room access, hospital operation status, and more, also updating with Red Cross news and sharing communications with reporters. The crisis pushed Scott & White’s communications to the forefront of social media, increasing their Twitter followers by 78% in only three days, turning Scott & White Healthcare into a Twitter "trending topic," and ranking the hospital’s YouTube channel among the most viewed non-profit channels during the crisis. Both people who were affected and those who were tuned in from afar were able to get real-time updates, thanks to the efforts of Widman and the ability of social media to share information.

  5. Nebraska Medical Center

    Nebraska Medical Center has created an incredible YouTube presence, one so successful, that as 360 Digital Influence points out, they’ve had an increase in requests for one surgery in particular. It’s all thanks to a patient who shared her cancer experience on YouTube, which led to so many requests for the surgery she had to treat her rare carcinoid cancer that NMC had to open a monthly clinic for the condition. The medical center encourages patients to share their experience, and even makes use of QR codes to share videos of physicians introducing themselves to potential patients.

  6. University of California San Francisco Benioff Children’s Hospital

    Connecting with patients and community members is great, but what if you could use social media to do something really amazing, like raise more than $1 million for a new children’s hospital? UCSF did just that, taking on a social media fundraising contest named Challenge for the Children. About 165,000 people blew past the hospital’s initial $100,000 fundraising goal thanks to social media channels including Facebook and Twitter. Much of the campaign’s success ($805,554 worth) was thanks to the Facebook game FarmVille, which allowed players to purchase virtual candy cane seeds that sent 100% of the profits to the challenge. This amazingly successful challenge paved the way for a new children’s hospital in Mission Bay, set for completion in 2014, and the top two teams will be honored with the naming of a dedicated space in the hospital.

  7. WakeMed Health & Hospitals

    It’s so important to be relevant to the topic at hand in social media, and getting off course can turn off would-be fans. But WakeMed Health & Hospitals in Raleigh, North Carolina made a smart move in April 2011, sharing a time-lapse video shot from the hospital’s helipad that showed a tornado as it passed through the area. Although the tornado is a non-medical story not directly related to the hospital’s mission, hospitals are a vital part of any community, and in sharing this video, WakeMed further cemented itself as a valuable resource for the Raleigh area. Med City News praised WakeMed for the video, pointing it out as one of the top blog entries for the medical group. As WakeMed spokeswoman Heather Monackey shares, they’ve found success in social media because they "just pay attention to what’s going on."

  8. Texas Health Resources

    Hospitals are using social media to connect internally, in addition to community building. At Texas Health Resources, social media tools make it possible for physicians and other health professionals to engage with each other and take advantage of useful tools. Using social media, Texas Health Resources promotes the adoption of electronic health records, and integrates the use of the private microblogging site Yammer to share internal messages, how-to videos, and more. Project managers and physicians use social media tools like Yammer to come together, collaborate, and communicate effectively over a large hospital system.

  9. Geisinger Health System

    Health care social media isn’t just about attracting patients and building community, at least not for Geisinger Health System in Danville, Pennsylvania. The health system typically turned to ads in medical journals and direct mail to recruit gastroenterologists, but when they had trouble getting enough responses, associate vice president of marketing Cathy Connolley turned to social media to recruit their physicians. With the help of a recruitment marketing firm, Geisinger created a social media physician recruitment campaign, creating a convenient and cost-effective way to communicate with physicians, and an easy way to direct gastroenterologists to their Facebook page. As Connolley reports, "that tactic outpaced our direct mail approach and our email blasts."

  10. Henry Ford Hospital

    Live-tweeting brain surgery just sounds like crazy talk, but Henry Ford Hospital near Detroit made it work. While performing surgery on a 47-year-old man, doctors discussed the procedure with more than 1,900 people, and even uploaded video of the surgery to YouTube. Things seem to go to the next level when the answer to Twitter’s "What are you doing?" question is brain surgery. The hospital earned praise and attention from ABC News, and showed off just how well they can make use of social media. In addition to Twitter brain surgeries, Henry Ford Hospital makes use of news feeds, Flickr, and blogging to reach patients and the general community.

  11. Scripps

    Scripps makes it a point to connect with patients and customers through the use of social media. In an interview with Found In Cache, Scripps director of web technology Marc Needham shared that the hospital typically spends its social media time on customer service. In fact, Scripps developed a new position of Electronic Customer Service Representative, specifically created to reach out to patients through social media and respond to online reviews. Needham pointed out that Scripps believes it’s important to have a good handle on their online brand perception, and left unchecked, "unaddressed complaints fester and lead to online reputation rot." Scripps has found success in this pursuit, but Needham says they haven’t quite defined their social media approach just yet, and they’re still experimenting with a variety of different sites, including Wikipedia, YouTube, Flickr, Facebook, and LinkedIn. Scripps tends to use different sites for different purposes, like Facebook for recruitment and LinkedIn for employee connections.

  12. Children’s Hospital Boston

    Children’s Hospital Boston has a wildly popular Facebook page. A Facebook page alone isn’t quite enough to be truly impressive these days, but Children’s Hospital Boston really stands out, not just for its half a million plus fans, but really for its top-notch content. Their landing page has information people really want to read, and an encouraging atmosphere that gets patients and fans to open up and share their stories. This high level of engagement is truly inspiring, and offers a great lesson for any Facebook Page owner. Through photos of the week, Children’s Hospital Boston highlights families and patients, who in turn spread the word to their friends and family on Facebook, bringing fans and patients to the Facebook Page to interact. But, as Ignite Social Media points out, Children’s Hospital Boston does so much more than Facebook, effectively managing a Twitter feed and YouTube video collection as well.

  13. Sarasota Memorial Hospital

    Sarasota Memorial Hospital understands the value to building better relationships through social media. In an interview with The Side Note, the hospital’s market research manager Shawn Halls shared how it came to begin using social media as an important tool. After growth and more than three years of use, Sarasota Memorial now sees Twitter and other sites as an important part of their communications strategy, using social media as a way for the community to directly communicate with the hospital. The hospital encourages patients to direct message their Twitter account, and has even been able to connect patient family members with resources like local florists through the site. Like other hospitals, Sarasota Memorial also has plans to share surgery via Twitter, specifically a brain mapping procedure where the patient is awake.

  14. Greater Baltimore Medical Center

    Social media is great for spreading news, but it’s also a useful tool for correcting misinformation as well. The Greater Baltimore Medical Center knows that fact all too well, as in August 2010, a Baltimore TV station incorrectly reported that the hospital had been invaded by an armed robber. GBMC media relations manager Michael Schwartzberg was able to act quickly to correct the mistake, sending out a swift collection of tweets that set the story straight for the public and concerned citizens. With active social media accounts already in place, the foundation for sharing information was set and easy to take advantage of, something that the hospital utilizes frequently. Schwartzberg reports that in addition to media relations and customer service, GBMC uses social media as a valuable way to share crisis communication, much like their fake armed robber, H1N1 updates, and if need be, disaster reporting.

  15. Inova Health

    Just like GBMC, Inova Health found value in Twitter’s ability to set incorrect information straight. Inova uses a security system designed to prevent the theft of babies from maternity wards, and as hospital personnel ran a test of the system, a visitor heard it and mistakenly believed that there was a lost baby. That same visitor then Tweeted about the non-incident. Director of digital communications and marketing Chris Boyer had wisely set up social media monitoring services, and quickly spotted the Tweet within just minutes of posting. After calling to confirm that there was not actually a problem, Boyer was able to immediately respond on Twitter and share the hard facts of the story, helping to preserve the hospital’s reputation before things got really crazy. Inova Health’s story shows just how important it is to use tools that can help you monitor and stay on top of your social media presence.

  16. Children’s Medical Center Dallas

    Living organ donation is an amazing gift and process, and Children’s Medical Center was able to share a special family’s story through Twitter. As a Texas firefighter donated his kidney to his three-year-old son, the Twitterverse was able to follow along with their successful story from start to finish, shared by none other than the mom and wife. With nearly 85,000 people on the waiting list for a kidney, Children’s Medical Center media relations manager Jessica Newell hopes that "twittering from this surgery will help raise awareness for organ donation, as well as living organ donation."

  17. University at Buffalo School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences

    Twitter and social media in general can be a scary thing for hospitals, opening up issues of liability and uncomfortable situations. But at least at the University at Buffalo School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, doctors and professors recognize Twitter as an incredibly valuable tool for learning and training. Dr. Philip L. Glick shares his insight: "[A] lot of the training consists of passing on information, lessons learned, and wisdom to the next generation. Twitter allows us to dramatically scale up our ability to do this. When I post something on Twitter, all the pediatric surgeons, trainees and colleagues in the country and the world can see it instantly." In addition to small updates, University at Buffalo uses social media to share audio and video of procedures, breaking them down into small pieces that offer opportunities for sharing and teaching.

  18. St. Luke’s Cedar Rapids

    Anxious groups of families and friends sit in hospital waiting rooms across the country, hoping to hear updates and news that their loved one is doing well. Some will find out about things as they go along, some simply when procedures are over. The level of information shared largely depends on the capacity and availability of the team of medical professionals at work. With Twitter, the time and energy necessary to share updates with loved ones is significantly decreased, and small, frequent updates can be shared in just moments, creating an opportunity for hospitals to better inform worried waiting rooms as things go along. At St. Luke’s Cedar Rapids, one family was able to enjoy this incredible level of customer service, as their 70-year-old mother Monna Cleary underwent a hysterectomy and uterine prolapse surgery. Cleary had given her OK for the hospital to share a play-by-play of her operation, and hospital spokeswoman Sarah Corizzo shared more than 300 tweets, allowing the family to follow along, and informing the general public. Corizzo answered questions, and fascinated nearly 700 people who followed along with the surgery. Hospital spokeswoman Laura Rainey pointed out that live-Tweeting is a "more gentle" way to inform patients and consumers, allowing them to follow what’s going on without shocking visuals. Cleary’s son Joe and his siblings appreciated the opportunity, pointing out that "it made the time go by," and they enjoyed having real-time information and staying informed while in the waiting room.

  19. Southcoast Health System

    Sharing information during a crisis is vital, even when you don’t have a lot of time or resources to do it. So when more than 50 people had to go to hospitals for treatment following a chemical fume exposure at a trash disposal station, Southcoast Hospital turned its Twitter account into a "crisis communication portal," sharing status updates for more than a week. Updates included status on admitted, discharged, and treated patients during the spill, and helpful information and links that kept the public and concerned loved ones constantly updated during the situation.

  20. Barnes-Jewish Hospital

    Hospitals are full of stories that the community is interested in, with people overcoming great odds and going on to live healthier lives. At Barnes-Jewish Hospital, a 23-year-old heart transplant patient Megan Moss attracted lots of local interest, thanks to updates from the Barnes-Jewish Hospital blog, Touching Base. Additionally, Megan’s dad shared constant updates through his own blog. Moss’s story attracted so much attention, that one weekend, she got 75 emails through the hospital’s website with well wishes from friends, family, and strangers alike. Through numerous updates and even a video interview with the hospital’s director of heart transplant, both Moss and Barnes-Jewish got much deserved attention within the community.

VISIT http://www.medicalbillingandcoding.org/blog/20-hospitals-with-inspiring-social-media-strategies/ for more

Leukemia Doubles Near Nuclear Plants

The incidence of leukemia is twice as high in children living close to French nuclear power plants as in those living elsewhere in the country, a study by French health and nuclear safety experts has found.

But the study, to be published soon in the International Journal of Cancer, fell short of establishing a causal link between the higher incidence of leukemia, a type of blood cancer, and living near nuclear power plants.

France has used nuclear power for three decades and is the most nuclear-reliant country in the world, with 75 percent of its electricity produced by 58 reactors.

The study, conducted by the French health research body INSERM, found that between 2002 and 2007, 14 children under the age of 15 living in a 5-kilometre radius of France's 19 nuclear power plants had been diagnosed with leukemia.

This is double the rate of the rest of the country, where a total of 2,753 cases were diagnosed in the same period.


Read more: Leukemia Doubles Near Nuclear Plants
Important: At Risk For A Heart Attack? Find Out Now.

Research From 100+ Countries Proves Sunlight Prevents Cancer

Sayer Ji, Contributing Writer
Activist Post

For the same reason that the conventional energy industry has not harnessed the full potential of solar energy (it's free!), sunlight and its indispensable byproduct in our skin: vitamin D, represents a serious threat to the medical establishment, whose questionable and aggressive promotion of vaccination and drug-based strategies in place of inexpensive, safe and effective vitamin D supplementation (or better, carefully meted out recreation and sunlight exposure) for immunity, has many questioning their motives.

Vitamin D, after all, has a vital preventive role to play in hundreds of conditions, due to the fact that 1 in every 10 genes in the human body depends on adequate quantities of this gene-regulatory hormone to function optimally. In other words, the very genetic/epigenetic infrastructure of our health would fall apart without adequate levels.

Statins Increase Not Decrease the Risk of Prostate Cancer

A just-released study made headlines claiming that cholesterol-lowering drugs also lower a man's risk of dying from prostate cancer. But no one should consider taking statins for their cancer-preventive effects, says Dr. Russell Blaylock, renowned neurosurgeon and editor of the Blaylock Wellness Report:

'Worried well' are warned against taking daily aspirin: Pills can cut heart attacks by 10% but raise risk of internal bleeding by nearly a third

Doctors should stop giving aspirin to ward off heart attacks in patients without cardiac disease, claim scientists.

British researchers behind the biggest study of its kind warn the tablets can harm the ‘worried well’ by raising the risk of stomach bleeding.

At the same time, it has no effect on deaths from heart problems or cancer, they said.

Aspirin: The pills, normally taken for light pain relief, are widely taken by people for their positive effects on cardiovascular health

Aspirin: The pills, normally taken for light pain relief, are widely taken by people for their positive effects on cardiovascular health

But the scientists stress that patients with heart problems must keep taking aspirin as evidence that it prevents further attacks is indisputable.

Thousands of others who have not had a heart attack or stroke are prescribed low-dose aspirin in line with guidelines as they are feared to be at risk of cardiac attack.

In addition, healthy middle-aged people – the so-called worried well – regularly take aspirin bought over-the-counter at pharmacies in the hope it will benefit them.

Taking daily aspirin is known to cut the risk of repeat heart attacks and stroke by up to a third. But there has been uncertainty over whether it has the same benefit in patients who have never suffered an attack.

The latest study reviewed nine clinical trials involving more than 100,000 people without a history of cardiovascular disease. It found the risk of internal bleeding from aspirin cancels out any benefits to the heart.

Double edged sword: Aspirin can cut the risk of heart attacks by 10 per cent, but was found to raise the risk of dangerous internal bleeding by 30 per cent

Double edged sword: Aspirin can cut the risk of heart attacks by 10 per cent, but was found to raise the risk of dangerous internal bleeding by 30 per cent

Half of the patients took aspirin and half took an inactive substitute for an average of six years.

Taking aspirin daily, or every other day, cut the risk of heart attacks and strokes by 10 per cent, mainly due to a drop in non-fatal heart attacks. But there were no reductions in deaths from heart attacks or the number of strokes.

Doctors should consider aspirin treatment on a 'case-by-case basis' for low-risk patients

Doctors should consider aspirin treatment on a 'case-by-case basis' for low-risk patients

However, the benefit to the heart was almost entirely offset by a rise in the risk of internal bleeding affecting the stomach or brain.

Although one heart-related event was averted for every 120 people taking aspirin, one in 73 suffered bleeding during the same period.

Lead author Dr Rao Seshasai said people with a history of heart problems must not stop taking aspirin.

He said: ‘However, the benefits in those not known to have these conditions are far more modest than previously believed. In fact, aspirin may potentially result in considerable harm due to major bleeding.’

He said doctors should consider aspirin treatment on a ‘case-by-case basis’ for low-risk patients.

The study, published online in the Archives of Internal Medicine journal, was carried out by a team from Professor Kausik Ray’s group at St George’s, University of London.

It adds to growing evidence that giving aspirin where patients do not have symptoms of heart disease is counter-productive. A report in the Drug and Therapeutics Bulletin in 2009 said the practice should be abandoned.

And a UK study also in 2009 found aspirin can double the risk of dangerous internal bleeding in those without a history of heart disease while having no effect on the rate of heart attacks or strokes.

Natasha Stewart, senior cardiac nurse at the British Heart Foundation, said: ‘People who don’t have diagnosed heart disease shouldn’t take aspirin as the risk of bleeding may outweigh the benefits.’

Nick Henderson, executive director of the Aspirin Foundation, said the study was ‘at odds with so much existing medical opinion’.

Scientists mystified as babies keep getting bigger and longer

The average weights and lengths of babies have been growing in recent decades, increasing by a pound and a half and standing- well, laying- a half inch longer as well.

New research, published in The Journal of Pediatrics, used data going back to 1929 to track babies' sizes at birth and beyond, and found that those born after 1970 were heavier and longer than babies born in earlier decades.

‘What would have been considered a big kid in the 1930s would not have been considered a big kid today,’ said Ellen Demerath, one of the study's authors and an associate professor in the University of Minnesota.

Big guy: A study of babies born in southwestern Ohio since 1970 tend to be one pound heavier than they were in the 1920s and 1930s

Big guy: A study of babies born in southwestern Ohio since 1970 tend to be one pound heavier than they were in the 1920s and 1930s

But by age one, most babies were about the same size as counterparts in previous generations, suggesting that babies born smaller in the past experienced faster catch-up growth in their first year of life to arrive at similar average weights as the modern infants.

To test those ideas, Ms Demerath and her fellow researchers used data from a long-term study in Ohio of babies born since 1929 and their mothers.

The 620 babies they followed were weighed and measured from birth to age three, and all were of European ancestry.

The Calcium Supplement Problem: As Serious As A Heart Attack

Sayer Ji, Contributing Writer


Osteoporosis is not caused by a lack of limestone, oyster shell or bone meal. Heart attack, however, may be caused by supplementation with these exact same "elemental" forms of calcium, according to two meta-analyses published last year in the British Medical Journal.

Back in July of 2011, the British Medical Journal published the results of a high-powered meta-analysis which looked at whether or not calcium supplementation had any effect on cardiovascular disease risk. Indeed, this groundbreaking report, which was based on the results of five clinical trials conducted in the US, Britain and New Zealand, involving over 8,000 people, showed that taking elemental calcium supplements of 500 mg or more increased the relative risk of heart attack by 27%.

9 Ways to Boost Your Immune System and Avoid Being a Victim of the Flu Season

Paul Fassa


Drugstores and Walmarts are promoting walk-in flu shots for the “flu season.” The late and early months of each year seem to be when more of us catch colds and come down with the flu.

So what measures can you take to ensure you are not sidelined with nagging colds or a debilitating flu episode?

Boosting your immunity is important for coping with the cold and flu season. Getting flu shots, recently proven as not even effective, is not one of them. All vaccines depress the immune system and can cause lifelong neurological damage and autoimmune diseases.

Cholesterol Drugs Likely Poisoning Patients

Sayer Ji, Contributing Writer


A growing body of clinical research now indicates that the cholesterol-lowering class of drugs known as statins, is associated with over 300 adverse health effects -- research boldly flying in the face of national health policy, medical insurance premium guidelines, statin drug manufacturer advertising claims, and the general sentiment of the public, with approximately 1 in every 4 adult Americans over 45 currently using these drugs to "prevent heart disease."

The Cholesterol Myth

For well over 40 years, statin drugs have successfully concretized a century-old myth about the primary cause of heart disease: namely, that cholesterol "causes" plaque build up in the arteries, ultimately leading to obstruction of blood flow, and subsequent morbidity and mortality.

Indeed, the medical establishment and drug companies have been singing the praises of this "cholesterol myth," to the tune of 25 billion dollars in statin drug sales, annually.

How flushing the toilet with lid up 'could spread winter vomiting bug'

It may seem like a subject ripe for toilet humour - but whether you close the lavatory lid before you flush could have an impact on the spread of disease, according to an expert.

Professor Mark Wilcox, Clinical Director of Microbiology at Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, said leaving the lid up can allow a cloud of bacteria to explode into the air, settling on nearby surfaces.

Sanitary: Leaving the toilet seat up allows the spread of germs

Sanitary: Leaving the toilet seat up allows the spread of germs

This increases the risk of viruses like the winter vomiting bug of transmitting to another person.

'It is very clear from our work that the lid is there for a reason,' Professor Wilcox told Mail Online.

Professor Wilcox and colleagues from Leeds University conducted a study to see how using a toilet lid could affect the spread of disease, specifically in hospitals.

They used a sterilised toilet cubicle and created a 'diarrhoea effect' in the bowl using stool samples that had been infected with the hospital superbug C. difficile.

More...


Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2081680/How-leaving-toilet-lid-flushing-aid-spread-winter-vomiting-bug.html#ixzz1iRWg8eUb