The spring of 2012 is bringing with it all kinds of positive change and transitions. It’s not just that the days are getting longer and warmer, either.
The change that we saw with the emergence of social media and the web over the past few years seems to be finally taking root in the day to day operations of people across the healthcare spectrum. Doctors, nurses, patients, complementary healthcare professionals and everyone in between are using social media tools to work and communicate better.
CIHC has been engaging people across the social media networks since 2009. It seems like it was only yesterday that we started our social media strategy but when we compare the digital landscape then and now we can clearly see that much has changed.
And much continues to change and adapt even as I write this blog post.
Three years ago we started our social media strategy with a desire to connect with people working and thinking about interprofessionalism and healthcare. Over time we’ve connected with more than 2000 twitter followers, hundreds of friends and followers on other networks like Facebook and YouTube, and many more people whom we’ve met at conferences and meetings across North America.
I think that it is safe to say from our perspective here in the Spring of 2012 that we are experiencing the groundswell.
And so, as more people from within healthcare communities and beyond – or as we commonly call them, patients – engage with the digital tools of social media and mobile technologies to keep track of their lives and keep in touch with each other I think that it’s time to reconsider where we are and reimagine where it is that we can be.
Which brings us to…
Collaborating Across Borders IV:
A year from now we will be putting the final touches on the preparation work for Collaborating Across Borders IV, the Canada—United States joint conference focusing on an exploration of common issues around interprofessional education (IPE) and practice (IPP).
More information about #CABIV is forthcoming but I wanted to mention it here because it will be an exciting conference that brings together new ideas in IPE/IPP/IPC (interprofessional education/practice/collaboration), will have a significant healthcare component, and will feature strong integration with digital technologies.
We believe that as a leader in the online discussion of interprofessionalism that it our job to demonstrate our ideas through our actions.
This is why we have participated in great online healthcare communities like #RNChat and #HCSMCA.
We have also created our own tweetchat focusing on the specifics of interprofessionalism with #IPChat.
CIHC believes that the conversation around interprofessional education/practice/collaboration has only just begun and that the digital communication tools available today give us a unique opportunity to outreach and engage colleagues and patients alike.
We are three years in to our social media strategy and we can feel the excitement of the groundswell around us.
In the next year we will be working harder than ever to drive our community toward even more engagement, connection and action as we prepare for #CABIV.
Please join us as we build this community.
You can have your say, too, by joining us on the last Wednesday of every month as we host #IPChat – the tweet chat of IPE/C in a healthcare context!
Our next chat on March 28th at 11PT/2ET will focus on how we can move forward in the next year leading the conversation and listening to your new ideas for growth.
