Social Media Made Easy: Guiding Patients to Credible Online Health Information and Engagement Resources

The HCPs who made referrals intended to help patients overcome common online obstacles such as difficulty distinguishing between high-quality information and material that is out of date, inaccurate, or overly promotional.3 Connecting patients to credible online health information during office visits can facilitate more appropriate use of health care resources, shorter clinical encounters, more patientcentered decision-making, and, in some cases, reduced barriers to treatment adherence.4-5 This article explains how online health information and engagement resources are integrated into patients' overall health care experiences. Examples of online health information resources for people with diabetes include Web sites of the American Diabetes Association (ADA; www.diabetes.org), the National Diabetes Education Program (www.ndep.nih.gov), and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Diabetes Public Health Resource (www.cdc.gov/diabetes).