By Barbara Ficarra, RN, BSN, MPA There are some health care professionals who refuse to engage in social media and there are others who have mastered it. And yet there are some who just don’t understand it. There’s a photo of a clinician on Facebook holding a cigarette. It may not seem like much, but when it’s a clinician at an academic medical center with a Facebook account which reveals place of employment, that changes…
Read More...Connected Health Care: How Technology is Driving Transformation
Guest post by Bernard J. Tyson The age of mobile has arrived. A recent Pew Research Center report found that more than four in 10 American adults now own a smartphone, and one in five owns a tablet. People are connected to the Web wherever they are and whenever they want information. They are using their mobile devices to manage their workload and family calendars, pay their bills, and find the nearest Starbucks. It doesn’t…
Read More...TEDMED Challenge of Health and Medicine – Improving Medical Communications
By Barbara Ficarra, RN, BSN, MPA Health care is about you being in charge of your health. It’s about you partnering and communicating with your doctor and other health care providers. Patient engagement is essential and it begins with you being an empowered and proactive patient. How can we improve communication between doctor and patient? A critical first step is to gather knowledge and ideas from all of us with a passion for improving our…
Read More...Speaking Event: Cayman Islands National Healthcare 20/20 Conference
By Barbara Ficarra, RN, BSN, MPA I’m delighted to participate in the Cayman Islands National Healthcare 20/20 Conference, and the topic of my presentation is “The rise of digital technology for better patient engagement.” For further details you may read the Press Release (provided by the 20/20 Healthcare Conference) below. 20/20 Healthcare Conference to discuss how patients can be better informed The use of mobile devices and the internet to help provide a greater level…
Read More...mHealth: Valuable information in PwC report, but are the findings remarkable?
By Barbara Ficarra, RN, BSN, MPA A recent report, (PDF link) “Emerging mHealth: Paths for growth,” commissioned by PwC, (PriceWaterhouseCoopers) the Economist Intelligence Unit, is well executed, however it’s important to understand the research sample for this survey. Is it possible that the results of the survey would be different if the sample was broader in terms of the types of patients questioned and the doctors and executives from payer organizations that were selected were…
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