Patients Centricity Canada

Jun 17, 2014 - Jun 18, 2014, Toronto

Optimize the Patient Experience: Collaborate with Key stakeholders to deliver value at every stage of the patient journey.

The General Impact Of Social Media On The General Practitioner

Roger Henderson examines the huge changes and opportunities that social media has brought to his GP Surgery.



As a full-time GP and the senior partner in my medical practice, there is no question at all that increasing numbers of patients are presenting at the surgery with either a vague idea as to what is wrong with them or a fixed certainty about their diagnosis - that is based on the social media tools they use.

Now, in essence this is simply the 2012 version of when patients used to come to see me armed with health pages ripped out of their favourite magazine but the new way of sharing information at the press of a button or click of a mouse does mean that the relationship between the GP and their patients has to become more collaborative and equal than it may have been in the past. This should pose no threat or cause any anxiety whatsoever to any doctor who realises that a successful medical consultation is based on information sharing, but it does raise certain questions as to how such success is best achieved.

Although all ages use technology, most patients I see who have researched health conditions ahead of their appointment are under 60, with the under 30 age group appearing to be especially fond of using Twitter and Facebook as information portals. However, a social digital divide exists. It is known that – for example – over 98% of households with an income over £40,000 have internet access whereas only 43% of those with an income below £12,500 do. This highlights the so-called ‘inverse care law’ where those who are at greatest need of good medical care are often the least likely to get it and if we change our use of technology in healthcare we must make sure we try to bridge this gap rather than widen it.

Although I use Twitter as well as having a NetDoctor Facebook page to answer health questions (rather than any personal one – I leave that to my teenagers), with the media work I do I am constantly seeing social media sites giving health information, the quality of which varies widely. I will often browse peer-to-peer sites where patients discuss their symptoms since I believe this can be a very useful way of finding out the tips and advice that patients give each other. Some of these can be frankly bonkers but others are genuinely helpful, and I will then use these for my patients who have similar problems or enquiries in the future. This is simply part of a continuing learning process in my view, using such sites as a resource.

Being in a training practice I am interested in the graduating class of 2012 and beyond as to just how digital-savvy the next generation of doctors will be and how they will move away from the traditional paternalistic pattern of doctor-patient interaction (doctor talks, patient listens) to a modern interactive and participatory approach where a shared decision is made using accurate high-quality information from both sides. Most doctors do this anyway in their consulting rooms but the pace of change so this becomes the norm is now quickening.

I often say that patients are better informed but not necessarily better educated. How is someone without any medical training meant to make sense of a deluge of possible diagnoses found online for any particular symptom? If a symptom linked with a harmless condition is also linked to possible cancer – and virtually any symptom can be – it is surely no surprise that some consultations now consist of the worried well clutching computer printouts believing they are about to die at any moment. And, well, there’s the rub – I don’t have a simple answer to that, and nor does anyone else. Quality filtered health information is tremendously useful, swamping people with a deluge of possible health conditions they may have is not. To assist in finding the most productive way of using social media tools, the Royal College of GPs recently invited clinicians to go online and share their views on issues about the use of social media. These views are being taken into account in finalising the RCGP’s Social Media Highway Code that is being set up to give practical advice to doctors about how best to use social media whilst respecting patient privacy and maintaining appropriate boundaries.

We all know the internet is no substitute for face to face professional healthcare. However, social media is playing an increasingly important role in raising health awareness and promoting patient knowledge which can only lead to better health outcomes in the long term, and for that reason alone we should embrace it.

 

 

 

Dr Roger Henderson was born in 1960 and raised in Whitehaven, Cumbria. He qualified as a doctor from St Bartholomew's Hospital, London in 1985 and as a general practitioner in 1990.

He decided to enter the media world in 1995, and within 2 years was the medical columnist of the Sunday Times. He has since written regular columns and articles for all the national newspapers as well as many magazines.

His books - 'Stress Beaters; 100 Proven Ways to Manage Stress', '100 ways to live to 100' and 'Over 50 Men's Health Check' have all been serialized in the national press. At the end of 2011 his books 'Pregnancy for Dummies' and 'Dad's Guide to Pregnancy for Dummies', were released to critical acclaim. He is also writing his first novel, based in the world of art fraud.

He is also a popular lecturer and after-dinner motivational speaker on a wide range of health-related topics and his medical responsibilities include being the senior partner of a six doctor general practice in Shropshire, running a main surgery and two busy branch surgeries, and teaching both medical students and GP registrars. He sits on a number of health advisory boards both in the UK and globally.

He is a member of the Guild of Health Writers and is a Regional Fellow of the Royal Society of Medicine.

Married to a doctor, and with three teenage children, his spare time is spent thinking about how nice it would be to have some spare time.



Patients Centricity Canada

Jun 17, 2014 - Jun 18, 2014, Toronto

Optimize the Patient Experience: Collaborate with Key stakeholders to deliver value at every stage of the patient journey.