Report: Twitter valuable for sharing clinical data

While many healthcare professionals have limited their use of Twitter to social communication or marketing, it can be used for clinical purposes as well, suggests a new article appearing in a journal.

The article, which appears in Telemedicine and e-Health, argues that there are a multitude of ways Twitter can be used to collect and disseminate health information. The article proposes 10 specific examples, including biomedical device data capture and reporting; diabetes management; drug safety alerts from the FDA; post-discharge consultations and follow-up and shift-bidding for health workers.

The authors also notes that services connecting patients with clinical trials, such as TrialX, make use of Twitter to communicate with prospective participants.

To learn more about this trend:
- read this iHealthBeat.org piece

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