U.S. physicians trail physicians in other countries when it comes to social media use, according to a study reported in InformationWeek, and malpractice liability concerns may be the culprit.
According to the study from technology consulting firm CSC, U.S. physicians lag behind the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, and the United Kingdom in social media use. Within the country, large, urban, academic and pediatric hospitals are leading the way in social media — 42 percent use it to engage patients in some capacity, the report said. But even these hospitals still lag behind the social media use among the top 100 Fortune 500 companies, which report a presence on Twitter (65 percent), Facebook (54 percent) and YouTube (50 percent).
U.S. physicians are more reluctant to engage with patients via social media because they fear that any health-related information they provide could be "taken out of context and interpreted as medical advice," according to Caitlin Lorincz, a co-author of the report. Rather than increase their liability, physicians tend to avoid connecting with patients on Facebook and Twitter, she said.
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According to the study from technology consulting firm CSC, U.S. physicians lag behind the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, and the United Kingdom in social media use. Within the country, large, urban, academic and pediatric hospitals are leading the way in social media — 42 percent use it to engage patients in some capacity, the report said. But even these hospitals still lag behind the social media use among the top 100 Fortune 500 companies, which report a presence on Twitter (65 percent), Facebook (54 percent) and YouTube (50 percent).
U.S. physicians are more reluctant to engage with patients via social media because they fear that any health-related information they provide could be "taken out of context and interpreted as medical advice," according to Caitlin Lorincz, a co-author of the report. Rather than increase their liability, physicians tend to avoid connecting with patients on Facebook and Twitter, she said.
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