I took a look at a handful of recent presentations and articles about how Web 2.0 is advancing healthcare innovation. There are some promising signals that new technologies can move evidence-based medicine forward.
Case study of Web 2.0 use by the Cochrane Library. There's a nice slide presentation embedded on the openmedicine.ca blog. They've had good results, particularly using Twitter during the swine flu outbreak to combat "bad information with Cochrane evidence".
The group Disruptive Women in Healthcare is using a blog, Twitter, Facebook, and other Web 2.0 tools. I love how they describe what they do: "We’re not managing change; We’re not thriving on chaos. We’re driving change; We’re creating chaos.… We’re disrupting the health care status quo."
Driving the Adoption of Health IT Through Innovations in Social Media. This July 16 conference included a session on Drug & Food Safety In The Age Of Social Media and Transparency. The discussion included efforts at the FDA (Food and Drug Administration) to incorporate social media tools — including "how they are working, how they are coordinated, the lessons learned, and the challenges that have arisen". They looked at how social media tools can be incorporated into efforts to warn the public about counterfeit medications and food illnesses. The conference site includes videos of the presentations.
DLC's eHealth blog has a writeup about 5 Reasons Why Twitter is Relevant to Healthcare.
Kim Hart at the Washington Post wrote about how U.S. agencies are using new technology. "When the Food and Drug Administration issued a peanut recall, it
set up a Twitter account (follow at FDCrecalls [note: I think she meant @FDArecalls]). Its following grew
when the agency issued recalls for pistachios and Brussels sprouts, and
it now has more than 10,000 followers.
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