On-Line Health Information Photo

Here is an amazing statistic. This fall I have been teaching a class on Health IT in Dartmouth’s new Masters of Healthcare Delivery Science program. The students are mid-career healthcare professionals. We had a fascinating discussion about where patients look on-line for health information. Many of the practicing doctors mentioned specialized health websites.  NPR is running a story today on the challenges facing WebMD – but buried inside the article, we learn the real story is Facebook.  Here is the quote:

“In fact, National Research, a health care data firm, reported that 96 percent of almost 23,000 consumers it surveyed said they use Facebook — that’s right, Facebook — to find information about health care.”

Welcome to the new world of social media!