Social media in healthcare

Hospitals have increasingly turned to social media over the past few years to connect with patients and get their messages out, a trend that’s virtually certain to grow.

Here, are a few — though certainly not comprehensive — examples of innovative uses of social media in healthcare.Last summer, Seattle’s Swedish Medical Center, which along with Mayo Clinic is generally regarded as among the top healthcare social media innovators among hospitals, drew attention for hosting what it called the first-ever “Sleep up.” The event, which consisted of an all-night live stream following a patient undergoing sleep disorder testing and a Twitter Q&A session with physician sleep specialists, drew 10,000 visitors. “Our goal is to reach people with information when they need it,” said Dana Lewis, Swedish’s interactive marketing specialist. For those suffering from sleep disorders, that time was when most of the rest of us were in bed.