{"id":11127,"date":"2012-01-03T08:16:41","date_gmt":"2012-01-03T13:16:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/pmedicine.org\/epatients\/?p=11127"},"modified":"2012-01-03T08:16:41","modified_gmt":"2012-01-03T13:16:41","slug":"facebook-as-a-source-of-healthcare-value-item-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/participatorymedicine.org\/epatients\/2012\/01\/facebook-as-a-source-of-healthcare-value-item-2.html","title":{"rendered":"Facebook as a source of healthcare value?? Item 2"},"content":{"rendered":"
As we work to re-engineer both the culture and the structure of healthcare, one question that constantly faces e-patients with uncommon or difficult conditions is:<\/p>\n
Where do I turn, to find genuine value?<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
The traditional answer is “ask your doctor,” and clearly that often works. But what about when it doesn’t – or when you can’t afford a visit, as is increasingly true in America? Do we expect the expensive, overburdened healthcare system to be the sole source of useful information?<\/p>\n
“Doc Tom” Ferguson noted in 1978<\/a> that most of healthcare is self-care. And\u00a0Pew Internet’s landmark 2011 report Peer-to-Peer Healthcare<\/a>\u00a0documented the extent of families finding value today among peers.<\/p>\n
In July we wrote “How Facebook Saved My Son\u2019s Life,” about a Slate.com item, where a mom’s Facebook postings unexpectedly led to discovering Kawasaki disease in her son over a weekend. It’s a time-sensitive condition, and getting to the emergency room was in fact important.<\/p>\n