Far too often, when we hear about hospitals and social media, we're hit with stories like this:
- This summer, emergency department nurse Katie Duke was fired from her job at New York Presbyterian Hospital after posting a photo to Instagram showing an empty trauma room previously used to treat a man hit by a New York City subway train. She had captioned the photo "#Man vs 6 train."
- Also this summer, a patient brought suit against Cincinnati health system UC Health and its flagship hospital the University of Cincinnati Medical Center over allegations that hospital officials put sensitive medical information on social media. The suit, filed by Shawntelle Turley, also names a hospital employee and the father of Turley's then-unborn baby.
- Last year, a patient filed suit against a doctor at the Chicago's Feinberg School of Medicine, claiming invasion of privacy and infliction of emotional distress. The suit claims that the doctor took pictures of the patient, who was admitted to affiliated Northwestern Memorial Hospital for overconsumption of alcohol, and posted them on social media sites with commentary about her condition. The case was later dismissed.
These are mortifying cases for hospitals, as in most instances, the facility had little control over what happened but still must face the intense negative publicity that follows.
But this doesn't mean hospital leaders—including but certainly not limited to the marketing department—shouldn't leverage social media themselves. If anything, I'd argue that if hospitals already have a strong social media presence in place, they can use it to mediate the damage done by the actions of careless or misguided individuals.
The rest of the time, they need to be connecting, communicating and learning online. The truth is, even if social media "accidents" occur, this medium is critical to hospitals in this day and age, especially as hospitals take on population health responsibilities and need to encourage behavioral change. They can't do much to impact health behavior if they aren't reaching patients at home, and for many, that home is Facebook or Instagram or Twitter.
Go where patients are
Having an actively-managed social media presence is no longer a "nice to have" for hospitals: It's a key step in building brand identity, cementing community relationships and potentially, health promotion. Today, their patients live much of their lives online, so hospitals must be there too, and not just as spectators. (If healthcare marketers are reading this, they're probably wondering why this even needs to be said—but research suggests that the hospital C-suite still hasn't gotten the point!)
But despite evidence that a strong social media presence is crucial, many hospitals are still tentative in their social media use. In fact, a new study found that while large, urban, not-for-profit hospitals and private or teaching facilities were active in social media networks, most hospitals were far less engaged. And when hospitals do post on social media platforms, they tend to post "generic" rather than patient-centered content such as health information, photos of facilities, testimonials, interviews and health and wellness events designed for patients.
To be sure, marketers have been haranguing hospitals to beef up their social media presence for a decade or more. But it's well past time for health leaders to stop tuning them out. And if they need encouragement, there's tons of information on how hospitals like the Mayo Clinic , Cleveland Clinic and the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center have blazed a social media trail, and what they're doing today.
Ultimately, it's a matter of being willing to meet patients where they are today. Hospitals owe it to themselves, and their patients, to be a welcome presence on social media networks. And weak measures won't cut it. It's time for hospitals of all sizes to integrate social media with how they do business.
This story has been updated to reflect new information on one of the cases cited.