Increasingly, a large number of hospitals in the US are registering their presence online. Even in India, the trend is slowly but surely catching on. (How Hospitals Are Using Social Media in India).

As per the Hospital Social Network List on edbenett.org, U.S. Hospitals that use Social Networking tools mainly rely on Twitter and facebook pages. Though many of these channels are being used for patient communication, very few are internally available to the healthcare providers, mainly for fear of improper use by employees. A well defined social media policy at such institutions is required before it can be opened for more extensive use. Take a look at Social Media Policies followed by a few major hospitals.

1) Childrens Hospital Los Angeles
Share Your Story – Use and Access

2) The Cleveland Clinic
Social Media Policy

3) Mayo Clinic
Participation Guidelines for the Public – Basic rules of the road for blogs, etc.
Comments Policy – How the Mayo Clinic handles submitted comments
Guidelines for Employees & Code of Ethics

This presentation by John Sharp looks at ways to optimize use of Social Media by Hospitals..Social media in health care: What's Working, What's Not