![\"David](\"http:\/\/www.bmj.com\/site\/blog\/icons\/david_kerr.jpg\")
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In the UK, we usually do it in groups \u2013 that is teaching patients with diabetes and other chronic disease how to self manage their condition. For example, a group approach is now used commonly for teaching patients with newly diagnosed type 2 diabetes, for those moving from oral hypoglycemic agents to insulin or when individuals need to start insulin pump therapy. One of the attractions of group teaching is that it is more cost effective for healthcare providers compared to a one on one approach.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Nevertheless, for the many people living with a chronic disease such as diabetes,\u00a0learning about\u00a0complex treatments and monitoring regimes\u00a0is daunting at the best of times, but particularly so for the poor, the depressed, those with\u00a0low literacy, and those with English as a second language. Therefore limited literacy and numeracy is likely to be an important barrier preventing many patients from benefitting from using complex medical technologies especially if a high numeracy skill level is required, as is the case for insulin pump therapy. Despite clinicians appearing to approve of receiving notification of patients\u2019 level of health literacy prior to a consultation, in practice they often do not test their patients\u2019 subsequent levels of recall and understanding when discussing new topics and ideas.<\/p>\n
SMS (text) messaging has been used as a successful prompt for patients in certain circumstances such as reminders to take insulin or perform a blood glucose test. Wireless transmission of data is also being used to deliver feedback when data are self collected and increasingly start-up technology companies here in Silicon Valley, are becoming involved in developing biofeedback loops using algorithms embedded in smart phone platforms.<\/p>\n
The question is whether Twitter (or an equivalent) could be used to support patient education?\u00a0This would have the advantage that information can be shared at two levels and providing a two-way format \u2013 between the group being taught and the wider audience outside. The limitation of 140 characters would have the potential to reduce the possibility of introducing literacy and numeracy barriers\u00a0as there is\u00a0not enough space for big words and complex calculations. But this approach will require a Twitter dictionary of health terms and abbreviations to be available and agreed by healthcare providers.<\/p>\n
The other advantage of T(w)eaching\u00a0is the opportunity for standardising the content of an education program. At present there are many different ways to teach insulin initiation or how to use an insulin pump. It must be possible to describe and summarise the steps involved into 140 character twitter \u201cbites\u201d that could be used to support patient training. These could be tweeted at specific intervals following the initial patient education session and may also have the additional benefit of reducing the need for multiple return visits to the hospital or GP surgery. T(w)eaching also has the huge advantage of\u00a0 allowing two way communication between patients and education providers and also input from others experienced in the use of the medical technology. The content of a live stream of \u201ctweets\u201d will need to be policed by the healthcare provider at regular intervals.<\/p>\n
The media use Twitter to promote their headlines and news, and celebrities like it for its PR potential. Businesses use it to hype their products but beyond these the value of Twitter is difficult to determine. Increasingly healthcare professionals are using the genre to communicate with each other but perhaps the time has come to use Twitter for improving communication between clinicians and patients. T(weaching) will never become a substitute for \u201ceyeball to eyeball\u201d teaching and especially group programs but it could add significant value and perhaps reduce cost. After all patient education, at least in diabetes, is moderately successful at best and as school reports use to say \u2013 there is room for improvement.\u201d<\/p>\n