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When Medicine Is Becoming Collaborative: Social Networking Among Health-Care Professionals

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The Digitization of Healthcare

Abstract

In recent years, Wikis, blogs, microblogs, and other social networking platforms have become available to health care professionals facilitating information sharing and interprofessional collaboration. Online health-care provider communities act as “apomediaries” helping users seek, filter, and select relevant information. Interactions with professional peers on these platforms also provide opportunities for sharing, creating, and applying knowledge within their scope of practice. This chapter examines the use of web-based collaborative applications and social networking platforms by health professionals. Specifically, we outline the potential impacts on professional development, collaboration among health-care professionals, professional mentoring and support, and patient outcomes. We identify ways to address use barriers and outline potentials in fostering health-care professionals’ participation and engagement and conclude with future research directions.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Research Group Health and Media, Department of Public and Social Communication, UQAM, Montreal, Canada

    Christine Thoër, Florence Millerand & Nina Duque

Authors
  1. Christine Thoër
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  2. Florence Millerand
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  3. Nina Duque
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Christine Thoër .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. EDHEC Business School , Nice Cedex, France

    Loick Menvielle

  2. Université du Québec à Montréal , Montréal, Canada

    Anne-Françoise Audrain-Pontevia

  3. Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières , Trois Rivières, Canada

    William Menvielle

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Thoër, C., Millerand, F., Duque, N. (2017). When Medicine Is Becoming Collaborative: Social Networking Among Health-Care Professionals. In: Menvielle, L., Audrain-Pontevia, AF., Menvielle, W. (eds) The Digitization of Healthcare. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-349-95173-4_7

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