The role of social media and social networking as marketing delivery systems for preventative health care information

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The role of social media and social networking as marketing delivery systems for preventative health care information

Health delivery system is an organizational structure that aims to meet the needs of the diverse patient populations. Health delivery systems are included in the competencies for advanced practice registered nurses (APRN) to minimize the risks of health care to the providers, patients, and other stakeholders. This includes the development of culturally diverse care, improving the delivery of care, collaborating with others to ensure a continuum of care, and evaluating the impact of health care delivery (National Organization of Nurse Practitioner Faculties, 2012). A health delivery system would be beneficial when providing care to a targeted or underserved population, such as patients whom are incarcerated or patients who live in a rural area with a lack of health care services. These targeted populations typically have barriers in access to healthcare, which may contribute to higher costs of care. For example, the American College of Physicians (ACP) had recently proposed strategies to improve the coverage and cost of care, the social determinants of health, and reducing the barriers to care. The ACP believes restructuring in the health care system needs to occur in areas such as payments and policies to put the interests of the patients first by achieving better health outcomes at a lower cost (2020). This may occur by restructuring organizations to provide alternative care measures to see improved patient outcomes, rather than dollar amounts earned or spent. An interesting article discussed the use of social media in preventative health “marketing” systems to reduce the cost of care. Cangelosi, Kim, Griffin, and Ranelli (2019) found that the use of social media advertising preventative health techniques improved the health outcomes and reduced costs for targeted groups such as single individuals never married, individuals employed part-time opposed to full-time, the 19-24 age group, African-Americans, and those with employers who offered health and wellness programs. The use of social media could be used to improve the health system delivery as individuals are able to see information on changing behaviors and how to fight unhealthy lifestyles to improve their own health at little to no cost. With this, targeted populations would be able to increase their own preventative health care measures, reducing the amounts of visits or money spent on the access to health care. Competencies for family nurse practitioners, such as health delivery systems, give the APRNs the ability to learn and include different angles of health care in their patient education. This would include information such as preventative, secondary, or tertiary health care that would affect the cost and accessibility to care for targeted populations. With this information, patients are able to take responsibility for their own health outcomes, reduce the amount of clinic visits that may be required (which may also be accessible through virtual visits such as telehealth), and reduce the overall cost of healthcare. References Cangelosi, J., Kim, D., Griffin, K., Ranelli, E. (2019). The role of social media and social networking as marketing delivery systems for preventative health care information. Atlantic Marketing Journal, 8(1), 1-15. Erickson, S., Outland, B., Joy, S., Rockwern, B., Serchen, J., Mire, R., & Goldman, J. (2020). Envisioning a better U.S. health care system for all: Health care delivery and payment system reforms. Annals of Internal Medicine, 172(2), S33-S49. Doi: 10.7326/M19-2407. National Organization of Nurse Practitioner Faculties. (2012). Nurse practitioner core competencies. https://cdn.ymaws.com/www.nonpf.org/resource/resmgr/competencies/npcorecompetenciesfinal2012.pdf