Our social media friends over at Mashable have chronicled the intersting ways that doctors and patients use social media tools suchs as Twitter to facilitate some medical miracles.
“World traveler Leigh Shulman (@thefutureisred) has twice turned to Twitter in a crisis. Shulman’s family had just moved to Argentina and her husband, Noah, became very ill to the point that he was verbally unresponsive. She had no local phone access but got some support from a neighbor and Twitter. Friends offered support online, but what was more important were the Twitterers who had lived in Argentina and Chile and offered specific advice on dealing with the health care systems there.
What she learned from the Twitterati is that in Argentina you can call for a doctor to make a non-emergency house call at any time. She got the number to call and the cost (55 pesos or about $15 US) so she knew what to expect if someone quoted a higher price. She also learned that it’s better to first take a house call before actually going to the hospital. Your hospital visit will go more smoothly with a house call recommendation.
In another situation, Shulman was able to pay forward the favor to a friend of hers who was in Beirut when his dog seemed to be having a seizure and he was nowhere near a vet. Through Twitter she was able to connect her friend to a vet. Within two hours the vet advised Shulman’s Beirut friend that he keep the dog as calm as possible and in a dark room. Keep away from his mouth and speak soothingly. And to further calm Shulman’s friend, the vet let him know that in general epilepsy in dogs is not as severe as it is humans.
The next day, Shulman heard from her friend via Facebook that his dog was fine and they were going to the vet that day.” — Mashable.com
“Dr. Maurice Ramirez is an ER physician, disaster preparedness consultant, and social media expert. While he utilizes and relies on tools such as police radios and Nextel push-to-talk phones for official communications, his team of emergency response personnel need their own communications channels for social support.
For emergency situations, such as Hurricane Ike in Texas, Ramirez set up a closed Twitter network that’s used for private non-official conversation and communication among his team and their partners, the Red Cross and Loews Emergency Response Team. The private network allows them to speak openly and freely about the stresses and the isolation they’re dealing with. The Twitter network has become critical for their disaster recovery operations, said Ramirez. “You always have that feeling that the team down the road is superhuman,” Ramirez said, “When you’re dealing with 300 rescues a day and you’re miles from your colleagues, you need that social support that reminds you that you’re only human.”
During a disaster, the top issues are usually locating potable water, gasoline, food, shelter, and electricity. The ones who can best uncover that information are emergency personnel deployed on the ground in the disaster areas. Ramirez’s team and their partners use Twitter to keep each other informed as to the location of available services and supplies. It’s important to keep the network private, said Ramirez. Lack of non-critical personnel on the network reduces cross chatter and the privacy prevents rumors from spreading.
In the case of Hurricane Ike, not only did the Twitter network help them find water, gasoline, and shelter, but it was also critical for warning personnel sleeping in tents in Galveston, Texas that there were two lions and two tigers roaming the island. Once alerted on Twitter, the personnel immediately moved to a safer location.
One aspect of concern that many don’t think about during a disaster is the loneliness. The team at Galveston were very isolated and had to sleep in shifts so that they could provide 24-hour support. Late at night official communications are silent and voice communications can often be poor. Using text messaging and Twitter, staffers up late at night would play games, such as Texas Hold ‘Em, just to decompress. The Twitter and SMS communications were critical to the team’s mental health. “If you don’t have outreach, you can’t decompress,” said Ramirez.” — Mashable.com
