Item Details

abstract

Patients are using social media to tell stories of their experiences of illness. These stories represent a new sort of illness narrative, which fosters connections between patients, giving rise to online communities that provide support, inform, and empower patients. In this way, the use of social media is able to improve healthcare by fulfilling some of its goals, namely promoting the overall well-being of patients. Moreover, social media offers more opportunities to tell and receive illness narratives. Increased access to patients' stories, especially for physicians, could improve healthcare as they become more aware of the experiences of their patients, which will humanize information presented to them as points of data. However, ethical issues arise when considering physicians' interactions with their patients online. Both parties must use social media responsibly, which involves attentiveness to the potential uses and limitations of social media in the healthcare setting.

subject

Bioethics

Healthcare

Narratives

Peer-to-Peer Healthcare

Physician-Patient Relationship

Social Media

contributor

Raliski, Kathryn Elaine (author)

Iltis, Ana S (committee chair)

Stirewalt, F. Keith (committee member)

date

2013-08-23T08:35:15Z (accessioned)

2013-08-23T08:35:15Z (available)

2013 (issued)

degree

Bioethics (discipline)

identifier

http://hdl.handle.net/10339/39017 (uri)

language

en (iso)

publisher

Wake Forest University

title

Social Media in Healthcare: Responsible Use of Illness Narratives

type

Thesis