Healthcare 2.0? The Workforce is Leading the Adoption of Social Computing

I was inspired by Shannon’s great post about HCA’s new careers web site, to think about healthcare’s adoption of new technologies for recruitment. And yes, historically, healthcare has lagged behind other industries and has been led kicking and screaming into using technology. But I think this is changing.

More so than the aerospace/defense, pharmaceutical, retail, customer service, banking/finance, and insurance industries, healthcare has been adopting the tools of Web 2.0 or Social Computing. Lately I’ve been noticing all sorts of innovation in Healthcare:

  • NursingVoices.com - Brought to us by Nursingjobs.org, this site links several top nursing blogs.
  • Bringing Nursing Back - This has had over 56,000 views on Youtube. Although, I’m not sure how exactly they worked the rights out with Justin Timberlake.
  • Healthcare Blogs are everywhere - There are thousands of blogs devoted to discussing working in this profession. Check out Mediblogopathy to see just a fraction of what is out there.
  • NurseLinkup.com - One of the first social networking sites dedicated to Nursing. It only has about 49 members and is still in beta, but it has an easy to use interface and a lot of functionality to help nurses connect.
  • Heatheva - A professional network for doctors and researchers. Looks to have almost 200 members and it is still in beta.

What does all this mean? Well, it means that healthcare professionals have embraced social media. And logically, healthcare recruiters need to go where their workforce is going. The healthcare professions has always been unique, they require special skills and training and come with unique working environments and challenges. These are the perfect conditions for the development of communities. And judging by the activity, the web is where these communities are coming together. I believe that recruiters that turn their attention to these communities will see some big benefits.

This entry was posted on March 20, 2007 at 7:47 pm and is filed under Emerging Technology, Interactive Marketing, digital marketing, recruiting, social media. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

3 Responses to “Healthcare 2.0? The Workforce is Leading the Adoption of Social Computing”

  1. Cliff Mintz Says:
    March 21, 2007 at 10:27 am

    I liked your post and think that you have identified a growing trend. There are employee shortages in the health care industry including the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries. These trends have been ongoing for the past 5 years but since we are talking about healthcare nobody really wants to acknowledge the shortages.

    Anyway, I run a career development blog called BioJobBlog that deals with employment and training for jobs in the healthcare industry. It provides interesting tips on searching for jobs in healthcare and related fields.

  2. Healthcare 2.0? The Workforce is Leading the Adoption of Social Computing - MTB - HR News Feed - All about human resources Says:
    June 11, 2007 at 6:16 am

    [...] Healthcare 2.0? The Workforce is Leading the Adoption of Social Computing I was inspired by Shannon’s great post about HCA’s new careers web site, to think about healthcare’s adoption of new technologies for recruitment. And yes, historically, healthcare has lagged behind other industries and has been led kicking and screaming into using technology. But I think this is changing. [...]

  3. Jobs in Nursing Says:
    March 27, 2008 at 10:05 am

    I noticed that even finding jobs in the medical field is now web 2.0. You can dynmically read job postings and find more information by looking at employers websites. The internet has made the healthcare workforce even more competitive.

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