Physicians Using Twitter to Give Medical Advice

This article originally appeared at iMedicalApps.com, part of the HCPLive network.

The popular South Korean newspaper, the JoongAng Daily, just published an article chronicling how physicians are using mobile technology to interact with patients. The article mentions popular apps, such as MedCalc and other radiology viewing software we’ve know for awhile. What’s interesting though — how physicians in South Korea are using twitter to actively engage patients:

"Have a sore stomach? Just pick up your smartphone and a doctor will respond, pronto. Kang Min-gu did precisely that when he was suffering from lower abdominal pain; he received an instant reply from his doctor’s twitter, who advised him to head immediately to the hospital because he may be suffering from appendicitis."

"The Asan Medical Center has provided smartphones to more than 400 of its doctors since last December in an effort to connect smartphone technology with medicine."

Not saying this type of communication should be common, there are obvious inherent flaws with the above example, but it’s definitely another way to engage patients in a new medium.

To read the entire article, click here.