SOCIAL LISTENING

 

Last June 12, 2021 as we celebrated Philippine Independence Day, I shared my COVID-19 story to the Philippine Obstetrical and Gynecological Society (POGS) for the first time and I was daunted by the task of compressing into a 20 minute presentation everything that happened in more than a year of COVID-19 response.  I was amazed at the reception of people and their words of comfort and positive affirmation.  I realized then how powerful story telling can be, and how one webinar can serve multiple purposes: allow the speaker to review and reflect on past experiences for catharsis; allow the listeners to relate to shared experiences and feel that they are not alone in their struggles; and provide the patients a voice to reach health authorities, political leaders and policy makers to improved health systems.

During the DOH7 Research Congress Dr Iris Isip-Tan discussed about infodemic management, how health spokespersons should have information ecosystem analysis with means to measure impact, and a listening board to evaluate issues for the day.

Having reliable health authorities relay data and information in a language that the general public can understand is crucial in combatting fake news.

On the other hand, Dr Narciso Tapia shared his own experiences with social media support groups of chronic kidney disease patients expressing their opinions and concerns on COVID19 vaccination.  He injected the idea of SOCIAL LISTENING, how program implementers should listen to what clients are saying, how these healthcare conversations can be monitored and mined as a source of data on the patients we want to target for vaccination and other programs.  This way, patients have a voice with which to get their needs across to the healthcare providers.

Sharing also a powerful message from Dr Bryan Lim that we need to put to heart to end this COVID-19 pandemic: the solution to this pandemic is LOVE!

Join us as we discuss SOCIAL LISTENING: listening to experts to combat fake news and listening to clients to improve health systems and programs, tonight at 9PM MLA time on #HealthXPH

T1. What advice can you give to spokespersons?

T2. How do we measure impact of our social media programs?

T3. How can you genuinely attract patient voices?