Web Applications for Patient Communication

Abstract

Communication between imaging professionals and patients can help achieve many goals, including improved patient understanding of imaging-related diagnostic and treatment options, better compliance with appropriate imaging screening procedures, and improved efficiency of service. The explosive growth of out-of-pocket consumer spending on health care has heightened health care shopping, thus making patient communication an important goal of any imaging practice or health care organization. Furthermore, the Merit-Based Incentive Payment System introduced by CMS will publicly disclose physicians' quality ratings, which are in part dependent on patient engagement. The authors summarize the rationale for web communication with patients, the range of content that should be considered, and the technology options. The aim is to help imaging providers develop organized patient communication strategic and implementation plans.

Gateless communication: A concept analysis

“…For the concept to be considered what is being described in this analysis, the following components need to be present. They include: (1) Expectation of response; (2) Use of devices to share information; (3) Direct communication between patient and provider; (4) Predetermined agreed‐upon response time; (5) Accessibility of provider outside of business hours; and (6) Unmet needs of individual seeking assistance …”

“…17,18 For the concept to be considered what is being described in this analysis, the following components need to be present. They include: (1) Expectation of response 19,20 ; (2) Use of devices to share information 21 ; (3) Direct communication between patient and provider 19,22 ; (4) Predetermined agreed-upon response time 20 ; (5) Accessibility of provider outside of business hours 23,24 ; and (6) Unmet needs of individual seeking assistance. 24,25 The defining attributes (1) and (4) should be discussed by the patient and provider when there is an agreement to participate in this form of communication.…”

Opportunities and challenges of using social media communication in patient care and counselling in family practice: a scoping review and ethical analysis.

“…Social media tools include Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, Twitter, LinkedIn, and video-hosting sites like YouTube [1][2][3][4]. Healthcare professionals and medical students frequently make use of social media in communicating, learning or interacting with colleagues or patients [2,5,6].…”

“…Social media tools include Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, Twitter, LinkedIn, and video-hosting sites like YouTube [1][2][3][4]. Healthcare professionals and medical students frequently make use of social media in communicating, learning or interacting with colleagues or patients [2,5,6]. Since these platforms provide tools where users exchange conversation, comment, deliberate, critique, contribute, share, create, modify and evaluate contents online, their potential uses are enormous [2][3][4][5][6][7].…”

“…Healthcare professionals and medical students frequently make use of social media in communicating, learning or interacting with colleagues or patients [2,5,6]. Since these platforms provide tools where users exchange conversation, comment, deliberate, critique, contribute, share, create, modify and evaluate contents online, their potential uses are enormous [2][3][4][5][6][7]. They present a personal learning environment for students [2,3,8,9], a forum for communication between patients and healthcare professionals [10,11], and a medium for communication between healthcare professionals [12,13].…”