Canadian and U.S. researchers formed a collaborative to explore social media in public health, with plans to generate a practice roadmap. The endpoint: enabling public health entities to harness social media to better help deliver effective intervention strategies.

“This trend is an emerging phenomenon that the healthcare industry needs to grasp and couple with the IT infrastructure in place to fully engage individuals in managing their health,” said Susan McBride, a professor at the Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center School of Nursing. “Public health organizations in both Canada and the United States are using multiple tools in social media programs to intervene on targeted efforts. All of this will further inform the roadmap for use of social media in population and community health.”

McBride has more than 25 years of experience in clinical, informatics and outcomes management capacities. McBride’s research focus is on healthcare informatics, analytic methods using large datasets, patient safety and quality.

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She will be co-presenting at HIMSS16 with Richard Booth, RN, PhD, an assistant professor at the Western University Arthur Labatt Family School of Nursing in Ontario. These executives will deliver the findings of their latest research during a session titled “Building a Road Map for Social Media in Public Health.”

“We are hoping to consolidate some of the current knowledge of social media used in population and public health,” Booth said.

While the world has become increasingly networked, government and healthcare have only now begun to realize the importance and value of communication that can be afforded by social media and related styles of communication, Booth added.

“I view topics like social media as a new generation or asymmetric way that health IT is growing and evolving. The type of health IT largely driven by consumers – we as healthcare providers and informaticians are late to the game in many respects,” Booth explained. “Unlike traditional clinical or health IT, this type of technology allows for immediate two-way communication with service recipients; thus, it can’t be controlled or managed like traditional health IT.”

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Because social media is so dynamic, the potential for its use in healthcare is very exciting, Booth added. And while the term ‘social media’ may fade in terms of its relevancy and usage, the communication modality offered by social media will become infused into the everyday way of doing things, including delivering healthcare, he said.

“Consumers of the not-too-distant future will be increasingly wanting to discuss and collaborate with each other as much as with their clinicians,” Booth said. “Social media – though not in its exact, current form – will offer us insights into what types of communication patterns might be possible moving into the future. We have a lot of work ahead of us.”

The session, “Building a Road Map for Social Media in Public Health,” is slated for Friday, March 4, 2016, at the Sands Expo Convention Center in Galileo 1004.

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This story is part of our ongoing coverage of the HIMSS16 conference. Follow our live blog for real-time updates, and visit Destination HIMSS16 for a full rundown of our reporting from the show. For a selection of some of the best social media posts of the show, visit our Trending at #HIMSS16 hub.