title: Nationwide online social networking for cardiovascular care in Korea using Facebook.
abstract: To examine the use of online social networking for cardiovascular care using Facebook. All posts and comments in a Facebook group between June 2011 and May 2012 were reviewed, and a survey was conducted. A total of 298 members participated. Of the 277 wall posts, 26.7% were question posts requesting rapid replies, and 50.5% were interesting cases shared with other members. The median response time for the question posts was 16 min (IQR 8-47), which tended to decrease as more members joined the group. Many members (37.4%) accessed the group more than once a day, and more than half (64%) monitored the group posts in real time with automatic notifications of new posts. Most members expressed confidence in the content posted. Facebook enables online social networking between physicians in near-real time and appears to be a useful tool for physicians to share clinical experience and request assistance in decision-making.
authors.affiliation: Department of Emergency Medicine, Guri Hospital, Hanyang University College of Medicine, Guri, GyeongGi, Republic of Korea.
authors.forename: Changsun
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Bo Seung
authors.initials: BS
authors.lastname: Kang
authors.forename: Hyuk Joong
authors.initials: HJ
authors.lastname: Choi
authors.forename: Young Joo
authors.initials: YJ
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Gu Hyun
authors.initials: GH
authors.lastname: Kang
authors.forename: Wook Jin
authors.initials: WJ
authors.lastname: Choi
authors.forename: In Ho
authors.initials: IH
authors.lastname: Kwon
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D002318:Cardiovascular Diseases / Q000628:therapy*; D004635:Emergency Medicine / Q000379:methods*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D056910:Republic of Korea; D061108:Social Media; D060756:Social Networking
keywords: cardiac care; social network