Download or read book Patient Care and Digital Spaces written by Carmen M. Butt and published by . This book was released on 2012 with total page 77 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In health care, participatory medicine, a movement in which health care providers allow patients to digitally connect and take an active role in their health care, is changing the way that patients engage in health care. Participatory medicine provides self-help options such as scheduling appointments, paying bills, retrieving their personal medical records, connecting with their physicians, and interacting with other patients through social media support groups. Overall, the health care industry has been slow to adopt social media, but recently health care institutions have become more innovative through creating apps that are user-centered for both healthy and chronically ill patients. Although health care institutions offer social media, many patients and prospective users are not digitally literate and therefore do not maximize their use of participatory medicine. Health care institutions are dedicated to developing creative methods to satisfy patients and prospective users of social media while following HIPAA guidelines, which protect patient privacy. Technical communicators could serve a role to provide health care institutions with tools to analyze usability and create content that is user-centered to promote a positive health care experience.