Social media has become prolific in everyday life and allows the instantaneous sharing of information, which can include health care information. The authors of a Research Note published on F1000Research suggests as medical vocabulary becomes more prevalent on social media that more comprehensible language should be used. In this guest blog, Farris Timimi, cardiologist, Medical Director of the Mayo Clinic Social Media Network and well-known health care Twitter user gives his view on this.
Health care literacy continues to be a challenge. We all recognize the impact of literacy on quality outcomes, ranging from accessing health care, understanding the risk and benefits of tests and treatment to complying with medical advice. Health literacy can include a variety of things, including cultural, visual, computer and information comprehension; however, often not understanding the written information may be the most important and may have the greatest impact on health related outcomes.
Literacy and social media
The authors of this Research Note have demonstrated the potential application of social media, to serve as an aid to standard educational material.
Via Marie Ennis-O'Connor, Giuseppe Fattori