http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/06363/749317-96.stm

This article, published Dec 29 2006 in the Wall Street Journal, discusses a new approach to networking in health care. In the past years people have started searching the internet more often as the first source of medical information. In light of this, the medical community has started to take advantage. Both the CDC and American Cancer Society have experimented with online virtual communities, and both have participated in events in Second Life. In addition, various medical organizations are supplementing the normally dry statistical data on their sites with community forums where people can discuss opinions and share information about the relevant topic.

One of the more interesting aspects of the article is the topic of support networks. For a long time doctors have supported patients getting into support groups, but for patients with rare diseases or patients that live in isolated areas, it may be difficult to find this resource. It’s interesting to see how this new outlet with professional guidance will benefit patients’ well-being. This article combines a few of the types of networks we have discussed in class. It is simultaneously a social network and an information network. As one patient is quoted as saying in the article, “we are allowed to have fun and even joke about things”. An interesting variation of this theme could be one in which only patients are allowed to post, but the patients’ doctors are allowed to read the posts. In this way, doctors can determine the effects of treatment on the patients as described in a social and not medical setting.

Networks such as the fluwikie provide a forum for discussion that equalizes the information flow. Although as before, the power resides mostly in the hosting organization, information can be shared amongst the consumers of health information. For example, since the CDC cannot optimize implementation of pandemic plans in all situations, allowing people from similar communities but different geographical locations to discuss their implementations will allow for the most efficient sharing of information. The host can even redistribute power amongst the users if certain users provide valuable information. This can be done by having time restrictions on posts or assigning weights to certain posts, much like google does with websites.