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...Engage With Empathy
By Barbara Ficarra, RN, BSN, MPA Original post, “Engage with Empathy” published on The Huffington Post on 6/27/12 in the Healthy Living/Health News Section. Do you feel connected with your doctor or other health care providers? Do you partner with your providers? How important is patient engagement to you? What words do you use to define patient engagement? Do you consider yourself an empowered patient or health care consumer? What is patient engagement? Here is…
Read More...5 Buckets to Patient Engagement and the Role of HIT
By Barbara Ficarra, RN, BSN, MPA What is patient engagement? Patient engagement is a connection between patient, caregiver and health care provider. A trusted relationship forms and mutual respect is fostered. Patients and their families are empowered and they are active in health care decisions. However, patient engagement begins before the initial interaction with health care providers. When patients and consumers recognize the need to be in charge of their health, patient engagement evolves. Patients…
Read More...Power of Social Media: Sharecare, Twitter and You
By Barbara Ficarra, RN, BSN, MPA One word to describe social media is engagement. Social media allows relationships to develop and it fosters connection among the community. A two-way conversation emerges and collaboration surfaces. Twitter, one platform in the social media arena, allows real-time communication to occur in 140 characters or less. Sharecare’s recent Twitter chat engaged the community with information to help them learn about the importance of sleep. Sharecare’s sleep experts gathered online…
Read More...Social Media: Are you engaged or do you ignore it?
By Barbara Ficarra, RN, BSN, MPA Can health care providers afford to ignore social media? Social Media Networking isn’t going to go away… …and trying to ignore won’t work… Social media is a powerful and phenomenal platform to disseminate valuable and trusted health information. Are you engaged in social media networking or are you ignoring it? Social media allows health care silos the opportunity to engage with each other. Health care conversations between the silos…
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