ROCHESTER, Minn. — October 17, 2012. The Mayo Clinic Center for Social Media today introduced Bringing the Social Media Revolution to Health Care, a new book aimed at helping health care professionals join consumers in employing social media tools to promote health, fight disease and improve health care.
MULTIMEDIA ALERT: For video of the authors talking about the book, visit Mayo Clinic News Network.
The announcement came this morning during the opening keynote of the 4th Annual Health Care Social Media Summit at Mayo Clinic, produced by Ragan Communications.
Mayo Clinic has been a pioneer in applying "new media" in health care, beginning with podcasting in 2005 and then moving into other social media platforms — such as YouTube, Facebook, Twitter and blogs — to make its physicians' expertise available broadly and to enable patients to share their stories.
Building on that leadership, Mayo Clinic created its Center for Social Media in 2010. In the foreword to "Bringing the Social Media Revolution to Health Care," Mayo Clinic President and CEO John Noseworthy, M.D., explains the rationale for both the center and the book. "As stewards of the Mayo Clinic legacy and early adopters of modern social networking tools, we see an opportunity and feel a responsibility to help the broader health care system harness social tools safely and effectively," he says.
"Bringing the Social Media Revolution to Health Care" features essays by 30 industry thought leaders, making the case for social media in health care and offering inspiration and encouragement to both newcomers and experienced users of social media. Contributors are members of the Mayo Clinic Center for Social Media advisory board and Mayo's Social Media Health Network.
"When it comes to changing health care, we must crowd-source the change we want to see in the world," says Farris Timimi, M.D. (@FarrisTimimi), the center's medical director. "Social media allows that to happen, and this book is a guide to doing so."
"'Bringing the Social Media Revolution to Health Care' simultaneously encapsulates our experience at Mayo Clinic and offers a broader call to action for the future," says Lee Aase (@LeeAase), the center's director. "We hope to inspire our peers to apply these tools to work more effectively on behalf of — and with — patients."
The book includes a section on legal issues in health care social media by Dan Goldman, J.D. (@danielg280), Mayo Clinic legal counsel, and a checklist to help readers develop their social media strategies.
Price: $9.95 paperback. Available at Mayo Clinic.
Net proceeds from book sales fund scholarships for patients to attend events sponsored by the Mayo Clinic Center for Social Media.
About The Mayo Clinic Center for Social Media
The Mayo Clinic Center for Social Media (MCCSM) exists to improve health globally by accelerating effective application of social media tools throughout Mayo Clinic and spurring broader and deeper engagement in social media by hospitals, medical professionals and patients.
The Social Media Health Network, a service of MCCSM, provides access to tools, resources and guidance for organizations and individuals wanting to apply social media in health and health care. For more information, visit online.
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About Mayo Clinic:
Recognizing 150 years of serving humanity in 2014, Mayo Clinic is a nonprofit worldwide leader in medical care, research and education for people from all walks of life. For more information, visit 150years.mayoclinic.org, www.mayoclinic.org and newsnetwork.mayoclinic.org.