Lancet reports on Facebook use in Taiwan health-care reform

2011/06/23 Taipei, June 23 (CNA) The prestigious medical journal The Lancet has published an article in its latest issue detailing how Facebook has enabled collaboration between stakeholders in emergency medicine policy in Taiwan, which has led to reforms. The article was contributed by Li Yu-chuan, dean of Taipei Medical University's College of Medical Science and Technology, who headed the study on using social networking services to transform the delivery of health care. Li said Thursday that due to a lack of knowledge of emergency room functions, many local people often rush there when they feel sick, a habit that leads to overcrowding in emergency rooms and creates trouble for first-line medical staff. Over the past few years, he went on, the Taiwan Society of Emergency Medicine has seen slow progress in negotiations with the Cabinet-level Department of Health (DOH) for an appropriate solution to emergency room overcrowding. A breakthrough was achieved in February this year, though, when an emergency physician who is an active social network user created a Facebook group called "Rescue the Emergency Room," Li said. Within a week, about 1,500 people, most of whom are emergency room staff at medical institutions around Taiwan, had become members of the group, Li said, adding that even President Ma Ying-jeou and Department of Health Minister Chiu Wen-ta joined. "By March 11, there were about 1,800 members, 455 posts and 3,745 comments and `likes' on these posts," Li wrote in The Lancet article, adding that the number of members and posts is increasing every hour. After monitoring the discussions on Facebook, Li said, Chiu and his team decided to make a surprise visit to emergency departments in 10 different cities around Taiwan. Afterwards, Chiu promised in a press release "to initiate dialogue with the DOH's Bureau of National Health Insurance on organizational issues affecting emergency departments and vowed to allocate more resources for hospitals to improve emergency room overcrowding and quality of care," Li said in the article. Noting that the case has implications for the future of health care, Li said it shows how social networking can break down the rigid social and professional hierarchical structures that can hinder reform. With Facebook emerging as a prevailing social networking tool, Li said, it can help connect the government, hospitals and emergency room medical staff to improve the delivery of health care and strengthen communication with patients. (By Hsu Chih-wei and Sofia Wu) ENDITEM/J