NCS1101 Health And Healthcare Systems

Question: Discuss about the Internet and social media for health-related information and communication in health care. Answer: Introduction With the advancement of technology, social media has become a part of lives and it is one of the major platforms of sharing information and connecting people. Healthcare system is also using this platform to share information and the use of social networking sites for multiple healthcare purposes is randomly increasing. The trend of using internet for health related purposes is highly rising and according to a household survey of Health System Change (HSC) in the year 2010, 50% American adults reported searching information about their own health concern in social media. Even, patients also share their personal experiences with healthcare personnel on social media in order to increase the awareness as well (Zhao and Zhang 2017). Purpose Of The Report This paper is going to study the impact of spreading and sharing information related to healthcare through social media and how various platforms of social media are being used in this purpose. Literature Review Impact of sharing health-related information through social media is highly significant. Many authors in their literatures indicated how health-related data found in the social media impacts the lives of people. A study by the researchers established the fact that half of its participants either started or stopped taking any specific medicine after receiving information about it through social media. Again, in the cross-sectional survey, it has also been found that 89.8% participants used WhatsApp and among them, 78.3% participants received health information through this social media channel. Again, the study also produced the fact that 46.6% patients started taking medicines as per the advertisement on social media without consulting their physicians (Iftikhar and Abaalkhail 2017). Survey also provided result that 40% top pharmaceutical companies use social media platforms for advertising purpose. A survey in China produced the fact that 93% people use WeChat as social media platform and a variety of health-related information is shared through it. But, 14.43% people believed that information is reliable (Zhang et al. 2017). However, female participants in the studies were more likely to consult physicians before taking medicines when compared to male participants (Iftikhar and Abaalkhail 2017). Therefore these evidences clearly indicated the impact of health-related information shared through social media on the lives of people. Different countries are using different platforms of social media to share information where they get health-related information as well. A survey of Australia identified how social media platforms are used in sharing health information. People in Australia access a variety of social media platforms on a regular basis. Facebook allowed consumers to access health information and YouTube is accessed to learn various medical procedures. The study produced the result that most of the participants used social media platforms to access health-related information. Even, it appeared to be utilized as a key tool which supports self management process in various diseases (Benetoli, Chen and Aslani 2017). Studies also produced the fact that Facebook pages are used for commercial purpose of sharing information and increasing awareness among the people though, twitter is rarely used in this purpose. In China, health-awareness among people is comparatively poor and in that case, use of social media can be one of the biggest platforms to share awareness among them (Zhang et al. 2017). Therefore a large number audience share health information through different means of social media. Conclusion Social media is widely used by the people from all over the world and it is not only used for entertainment but also for various serious purposes that includes sharing health information and increasing health-related awareness among the people who are using it. The paper also analysed some literatures to reveal the usage of social media in sharing health information across the world. It produced the result that sometimes, people rely on social media for medication purpose without consulting to their physicians. Recommendation Users of social media must check the relevance as well as the authenticity of any information related to health found in Facebook, WhatsApp, YouTube, WeChat or any other social media platforms. Moreover, cyber surveillance should be a part of accountability of social media to prevent sharing any inappropriate or incorrect health information. People should be more aware and avoid using self-medication. They should consult their physicians before starting medication or taking any health-related decision. Healthcare professionals should also help in editing social network pages to make it error-free. References Benetoli, A., Chen, T.F. and Aslani, P., 2017. Consumer health-related activities on social media: exploratory study. Journal of medical Internet research, 19(10). Iftikhar, R. and Abaalkhail, B., 2017. Health-seeking influence reflected by online health-related messages received on social media: Cross-sectional survey. Journal of medical Internet research, 19(11). Zhang, X., Wen, D., Liang, J. and Lei, J., 2017. How the public uses social media WeChat to obtain health information in china: a survey study. BMC medical informatics and decision making, 17(2), p.66. Zhao, Y. and Zhang, J., 2017. Consumer health information seeking in social media: a literature review. Health Information & Libraries Journal, 34(4), pp.268-283.

NCS1101 Health And Healthcare Systems

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NCS1101 Health And Healthcare Systems

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