In case some of you aren’t on Twitter, there’s this interesting conversation around healthcare IT and social media each Monday. It goes by the hashtag #HITsm chat. Ok, if that’s too technical for you, just click this link tomorrow night and you’ll see some interesting healthcare IT and social media chat happening on Twitter. Don’t be afraid. You don’t even have to have a Twitter account to read along.
If you want to join the conversation and add your 140 characters worth, then you will have to sign up for a free Twitter account.
Erica Olenski at HL7 Standards added the following thoughts about the conversations happening at #HITsm and how more people need to be made aware of them. Consider this my Valentine’s gift to Erica!!
In last week’s #HITsm chat, a key topic was discussed regarding public awareness of healthcare IT initiatives. It was emphasized throughout the conversation that if the public was aware of the initiatives taking place in health care and health IT, their expectation would be instrumental in driving the interoperability initiatives in health care.
A major set back to public awareness, though, is that many health IT projects include jargon and complex systems that only emphasize the disconnect between health IT professional understanding and the public understanding.
Out of the conversation, #HITsm was assigned its first ever homework assignment to tell one unaware e-patient about a health IT initiative. Therefore, in the spirit of Valentine’s day, feel free to invite a friend (patient, provider or professional) to join the chat so they can ask questions, learn and provide an additional voice to the #HITsm community.