Participatory Medicine: Leveraging Social Networks in Telehealth Solutions

Abstract

Advancements in telehealth technologies offer health care providers and medical practitioners ever expanding solutions to improve the quality and timeliness of care. As the use of technology increases, corresponding attention needs to be given to bringing care providers closer to their patients. Extended networks of family, friends and healthcare professionals are integral to a successful care plan. Service oriented architectures and Web 2.0 technologies offer an effective approach to integrating telehealth solutions with social networks to create a new and innovative approach for offering patient centric care. These combined solutions offer the patient and the people who form their primary and extended care networks, a means to communicate, interact and adapt as needs and situations change. Enabling new and creative applications will improve the ability for medical professionals to deliver quality care by combining clinical data with a patient’s own "network effect".