Hcs 490

Communication Modality: Web-based Forum

Jenn Anderson

HCS 490

September 26, 2011

David Dye

Communication Modality: Web-based Forum

There are numerous different modalities to market and communicate health care related business and patient information: with the constant broadening and adaptation of the internet those modalities are expanding with great leaps and bounds. A web-based forum is a modality which can benefit the provider, the patient, and future prospects of both. An online or web-based health forum is a type of forum that gives users the ability to read others comments or exchange opinions and information about specific cases, medical conditions, or treatment avenues. The use of web-based forums allows people all over the world to access and comment on the information that is being shared.

As a patient, the use of web-based health forum can open the path to getting treatment that is needed, seeing that other people are experiencing the same issues, or even getting advice on how to deal with medical concerns. Often, someone with a medical concern will put of visits to the doctor until someone tells them that they have experienced the same thing and it was not an issue to be put off. In instances like this a web-based health forum can motivate the patient to seek medical treatment. Due to the use of the internet for the health forum people are opened up to a more diverse group of people that are experiencing similar issues or who have knowledge of the situation. Martin Tanis, indicates that this type of information can expand a person’s knowledgebase, provide self sufficiency in regards to control, limit uncertainty, and can all result in helping them cope with their situation. In 2009, eighty percent of internet users used the internet to search for health information (Baumgartner, Hartmann, 2010).

From a provider’s perspective the web-based forum also offers a variety of benefits for...