Last week I attended the Fourth World Congress on Social Media and Web 2.0 in Health, Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, also known as Medicine 2.0. This conference, held at the Stanford University School of Medicine, brought together some of the world's leading experts in using social media and mobile applications to create new ways of delivering health.
How can we use the Internet and social media to improve health as well as patient-caregiver relationships? I came away with loads of ideas to try out with mobile applications like A-CHESS that NIATx is developing.
One recurring theme throughout the conference was how much patients, no matter what their health condition, benefit from networking with others. Social media tools like Facebook and Twitter have become new tools for building the social support patients need. Some other new applications that you'll be hearing about include Google + and www.patientslikeme.com.
This innovative conference also introduced me to some new technologies that transformed my conference experience. We hope to give you a sample of the same at the 2012 NIATx Summit/SAAS National Conference - next year, your Summit conference badge might also be the conference program!
It is becoming increasingly evident that our prediction is true: wireless devices (smart phones, tablets and sensors) will play a critical, even revolutionary role in health care in the future. We look forward to working with you to collaboratively set the future for our field by embracing these technologies.
