The Internet, Social Media, and Healthcare

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in today’s day and age, the internet and social media play a large role in how we think about, and find, everyday information…including healthcare providers! with over 2 billion internet users worldwide, the internet is a powerful source of information; and social media makes it easier than ever for patients and heathcare providers to connect outside the exam room.

according to an april survey by the national research corporation (a healthcare research firm) about 20% of patients use social media to glean healthcare information. the pew internet project* reports:

  • 72% of u.s. internet users have searched online for health information during the past year.
  • 26% of internet users have read or watched someone else’s experience about health or medical issues
  • 34% of internet users have read someone else’s commentary or experience about health or medical issues on an online news group, website, or blog

 

these statistics are important for a number of reasons to patients, prospective patients, and healthcare providers because reviews:

  • provide the public with a unique peer-to-peer review of a particular healthcare experience
  • provide positive and negative views of a healthcare provider that may assist patients in making a decision to make an appointment with a particular provider. (note: not all patient experiences are accurate and should be carefully considered and evaluated)

 

while you can read patient stories on our website, reviews on yelp are written by patients themselves…what better way to know what our patients think of us? here are two such patient reviews:

yelpreviews

nate r. on 22/12/2013

dr. mcgann’s clinic is very modern and spacious with well thought out clinical procedures and clinic design centered around efficiency and patient comfort. dr. mcgann and staff are fantastic! i arrived for a consultation and after a panoramic x-ray of my teeth, dr. mcgann recommended a procedure and i decided to schedule an appointment to extract the wisdom tooth that was causing sever pain. on the day of the procedure, he numbed the area of my wisdom tooth (i chose to be awake during the procedure) and within just few minutes the tooth was extracted! i was so happy and amazed of how precise and painless it was. i was smiling right after the procedure and the entire drive home. it has been few days since the wisdom tooth extraction and i’m pretty much healed with no pain or discomfort at all. consultation, extraction, healed. perfect! thank you so much.

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yelpreviewsjose r. on 13/2/2014

i had a broken wisdom tooth. my dentist referred me to dr. mcgann. i hate going to the dentist and was really nervous about having my tooth extracted. when i arrived, i was impressed, the office is really nice and looks clean. i had a consultation and dr. mcgann suggested i have all 4 extracted. that made me really nervous, but i was confident after the consultation. everything was very clearly explained. they said i would probably have bleeding, some pain and swelling. i should expect a couple of days recovery. the procedure was so easy and fast. i was put out, they did it and i was home in little over an hour. i had no pain, no swelling and very little bleeding. i took only one pain pill after surgery. the only task has been to keep it clean. they did an amazing job!!. i was good to go the next day. thank you dr. mcgann

 

yelp posts genuine patient feedback – both positive and negative – and we value that information. hearing from our patients about their experience helps us improve our treatment and service to you! thank you for your feedback! to read more of our patient reviews or to write one of your own, click here.

*source credit: pew internet project

 

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