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Professional Social Networking

  • Psychiatry in the Digital Age (JS Luo, Section Editor)
  • Published:
Current Psychiatry Reports Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

We review the current state of social communication between healthcare professionals, the role of consumer social networking, and some emerging technologies to address the gaps. In particular, the review covers (1) the current state of loose social networking for continuing medical education (CME) and other broadcast information dissemination; (2) social networking for business promotion; (3) social networking for peer collaboration, including simple communication as well as more robust data-centered collaboration around patient care; and (4) engaging patients on social platforms, including integrating consumer-originated data into the mix of healthcare data. We will see how, as the nature of healthcare delivery moves from the institution-centric way of tradition to a more social and networked ambulatory pattern that we see emerging today, the nature of health IT has also moved from enterprise-centric systems to more socially networked, cloud-based options.

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References

Papers of particular interest, published recently, have been highlighted as: • Of importance •• Of major importance

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Conflict of Interest

Robert D. Rowley is a cofounder and stockholder in Flow Health, Inc. (privately held pre-revenue startup), Chief Medical Officer 2013–present. Dr. Rowley is a stockholder in Practice Fusion, Inc. (privately held), former Chief Medical Officer 2007–2012.

Human and Animal Rights and Informed Consent

This article does not contain any studies with human or animal subjects performed by any of the authors.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Flow Health, Inc., San Francisco, CA, USA

    Robert D. Rowley

  2. Practice Fusion, Inc., San Francisco, CA, USA

    Robert D. Rowley

  3. Danville, CA, 94506, USA

    Robert D. Rowley

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  1. Robert D. Rowley
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Robert D. Rowley.

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This article is part of the Topical Collection on Psychiatry in the Digital Age

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Rowley, R.D. Professional Social Networking. Curr Psychiatry Rep 16, 522 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11920-014-0522-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11920-014-0522-4

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