Public Health Informatics Report: STAT6001 Assessment 1 Analysis

This report provides an overview of a public health informatics assignment, focusing on the application of Twitter in the field. The report begins with an introduction to public health informatics, defining its key concepts and the role of social media, particularly Twitter. It then presents findings from the analysis of three Twitter accounts (@DigitalHealth, @ehealthpaho, and @_PHAA_), comparing their content and engagement strategies. The report further explores the strengths and weaknesses of using Twitter for public health, including its role in health promotion, disease prevention, and improving health services. Challenges, barriers, and limitations are also discussed, such as content selection, lack of source citations, and potential for negative criticism. The assignment concludes with a discussion of the future of Twitter in public health, suggesting ways to improve its effectiveness. The second part of the report discusses barriers to the uptake of telemedicine and potential infrastructural support available in support to telemedicine and few recommendations to address the challenges.

Assessment 1
Report –Summarizing Public Health Informatics

Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................2
Findings from Twitter Accounts......................................................................................................3
@DigitalHealth............................................................................................................................3
@ehealthpaho...............................................................................................................................4
@_PHAA_...................................................................................................................................4
Application of Twitter in Public Health Informatics Field.............................................................8
Strengths of using Twitter...............................................................................................................9
Critique of utilizing Twitter.............................................................................................................9
Challenges, barriers and limitations of twitter in public health.....................................................10
Future of Twitter............................................................................................................................10
Conclusion.....................................................................................................................................11
Part 2: Introduction........................................................................................................................12
Barriers to the uptake.....................................................................................................................12
Potential infrastructural support available in support to telemedicine and few Recommendations
to address the challenges...............................................................................................................14
Conclusion.....................................................................................................................................15
References......................................................................................................................................16

Introduction
Public Health Informatics is defined as the analytical implementation of information, computer
science and advance technology to public health groundwork, proceedings and learnings
comprising of various health promotions, preventions and making better health services and
reporting. This field majorly focuses on the applicability of information science & relevant
technology that further promotes the health of the society; disease prevention and it also
monitors the operations largely in context to government. Health practitioners are aware of the
usage of computers, networks and database but they are not much aware of the usefulness of the
public health informatics. Information technology has the power to enhance and even revamp
public health practice. These days, social media tools are being used prominently in almost all
fields. Social media networking sites are used in public health due to the barriers like adequate
funding and less number of available resources. Public health professionals are utilizing these
tools, especially Twitter as a medium to facilitate the well being of people and their individual
professional development (Hart, Stetten, & Islam, 2017). Social media has the potential to
revamp public health communication amid people and organizations or agencies. Twitter is
considered to be one of the social media’s ICT tool which is followed by 262 million
international account holders (Thackeray, Neiger, & Wagenen, 2012). We are residing in the age
of immense change, where learning from previous experiences, innovations and exchanging of
opinions and ideas is utmost important to deliver the promises of electronic health (e-health).
This report aims to evaluate the usage of the social media platform, especially the twitter
accounts for the promotion of public health informatics. The first part of this document shares

the information gathered from three different public health-related accounts on Twitter and it
also critiques how Twitter can be used as a social media tool for public health informatics field.
Findings from Twitter Accounts
@DigitalHealth
Digital Health Service organization provides the digital productivity training applicable to all the
industries which are equipped with modern communication technologies (O’Carrol, 2017).
Detailing a 20% expansion in efficiency, (DHS)Digital Health Service preparing workshops to
enhance the performance by assisting individuals to oversee their computerized instruments. This
account has been created in 2008. The HR managers and executives are helped so that they can
raise the performance of their organizations by excelling in digital technology use. Digital Health
is fundamental to the reduced stress and efficient communication of well-being; knowledge
sharing & working; innovation capability to collaborate. https://twitter.com/digitalhealth
The training sessions do not permit the trainees to use any computer or other technology-aided
equipment. Moreover, it enables the participants to reveal good and bad digital habits, de-clutter
the digital tools and make an improved version of their own, attainable action plan of
modifications required for the improvement in the performance. The experiences shared by the
followers and tweeters show that Digital Health benefits the people under high stress and the
ones with low productivity, where the digital tools used by them have become a drain on their
productivity.

@ehealthpaho
PAHO stands for Pan American Health organization which is an international (PH)public health
agency working efficiently for the betterment of the nation. There are 35 different countries
which are working as its member states. It is the part of the UN(United Nation ) systems and is
working in close association with WHO(World Health organization) to deal with priority health
issues. The twitter account depicts that it is working to improve the local as well as a national
health system in collaboration with governmental and non-governmental organizations,
educational health institutions, community groups, ministers of health and many more. PAHO
likewise advances the utilization of research proof to advise health care choices and
policymaking through the usage of information interpretation techniques.
https://twitter.com/ehealthpaho The followers tweet in different languages as they belong from
different communities and cultures. (Nambisan, Luo, & Kapoor, 2015).
@_PHAA_
PHAA stands for Public Health Association Australia. It is found to be the Australian agency for
providing statistics on health & welfare and information. https://twitter.com/_PHAA_ The
followers of this account used the English language to tweet on this account. For example, on 1st
Oct 2019, PHAA shared the data depicting the escalation of the obesity problem among more
than half of young adults as per the ABS data. Other tweets covered topics like a healthier

population, cervical cancer, tobacco control etc. The types of content shared by this public health
account keep the users engaged, thereby making their presence active on the Twitter account. It
also uses hashtags and URLs to improve the likelihood that the audience may find the
information encoded on the tweets more fruitful and thus may retweet on it. A lot of useful
content has been shared in the media segment along with clear photographs which grabs the
attention of the followers (Bhattacharya & Polgreen, 2014).

After the evaluation of three accounts discussed above, a comparison table has been depicted
below to get a more clear picture of the analysis.
Describing
Elements of the
accounts
@DigitalHealth @ehealthpaho @_PHAA_
The focus of the
account
This account has been
created by Digital Health
Service which aims to help
people in using their digital
tools through an improved
manner via providing
workshops and personal
coaching.
It focuses to raise the
living standards,
wellbeing and health of
Americans.
This account operates
for the improved health
conditions and well-
being of the Australians
as well as it aims to
improve the health
results worldwide
through shared
information.
Number of
followers
384 9,437 13,900
Number of
tweets/frequency
2,066 3,685 9,658
Type of tweets or
content posted
People who have been part
of the training or
workshops conducted by
Digital health have shared
their testimonials and
It keeps on sharing the
trending news and
research publishings
and articles related to
health concerning issues
The tweets were mainly
based on the modern
rules on utilizing drugs,
to make people aware
general health issues,

comments on their twitter
account. Also, the
company keeps on
updating its followers with
the latest articles and
trending news to improve
their digital health.
in the nation through its
media segment on the
twitter page. followers
also post their queries
which are addressed by
the agency officials
with supportive
evidence and
suggestions.
reminders where
audiences were asked
to put question links,
reports addressing the
mental and different
health concerning
issues.
Ease of
understanding
The tweets done on the
account depicts that the
training provided by this
organization is informal,
fun-loving and engaging
It shares the content in a
readable form and
simple manner through
this tool of social media
platform and it keeps on
directing the followers
to its official website
for more updates with
every single update on
its Twitter account
The information shared
on this account could
be easily understood by
both medical as well as
non-medical
professionals.
Table 1: Comparison table of three twitter accounts

Application of Twitter in Public Health Informatics Field
After the observation gathered from the above-discussed twitter accounts, it is very much clear
that Twitter can be utilized effectively around the public health field and what role does it play in
improving public health. The public health informatics field discusses in three vital domains of
public health which are described below in this section.
Health promotions
Health promotions are the way to make the people aware of their health and enhance control over
it. For the accomplishment of this goal, it is necessary to educate people about different types of
prevailing diseases and health issues(WHO, 2019). At this place, the ICT tool Twitter accounts
come into the picture. Public-health accounts can be used to address a large number of
audiences. The health professionals and researchers not only make the people aware but they
also interact and study the users through this tool. Twitter acts as big data sources for the
researchers due to real-time characteristics of the content, ease in the accessibility and finding
the publically available information.
Health Preventions
Health prevention stage is the early detection of the disease, reducing a load of disease as well as
its risk factors. Twitter accounts are used as the medium of health hazard preventions by the
early detection and spreading the required awareness(NCBI, 2019).

Making Better Health Services & Reporting
This implies that sufficient quality of care required to provide additional health benefits, and
effective utilization of resources. The past publishings and researches reveal that Twitter
messages or tweets on Twitter account help in tracking and analyzing influenza rate and increase
the awareness of the UK and US in the field of public health (Broniatowski & Dredze, 2013).
Strengths of using Twitter
Twitter is a very user-friendly and cost-effective tool of social media which effectively provides
information and knowledge regarding public health along with posing a positive impact of health
campaigns on a huge number of users or audience (Albalawi & Sixsmith, 2017). In this digital
and internet-based era, people are more connected on the social media platform, therefore at the
time of any public health crisis, Twitter proves to be beneficial in making people aware about the
concerning diseases, health issues and their protections (Newberry, 2019).
Critique of utilizing Twitter
There are few attributes which make Twitter ineffective for the right delivery in public health
such as the absence of posts related to health information. For example, the first account which I
followed had many tweets from non-medical sources. Like, this account had more tweets related
to the training, workshops and achievements. The second attribute identified is the absence of
source citation or the missing author names. This attribute declines the popularity of twitter for
sharing information. Another issue was the bias nature observed in the handling of these three
accounts. There is an impulse to post around their personal appearance. Also, the twitter account
could be unproductive if it is not maintained or updated regularly. For example, in the study, it

was observed that@DigitalHealth account did not post much content in the media section of the
account and there was very less number of followers existing.
Challenges, barriers and limitations of twitter in public health
The major challenges related to public health on twitter account are the selection of the right kind
of content to be posted by the public health account holders. The physicians and healthcare
professionals are not supposed to share their personal information, patient's medical illness and
state of health without seeking prior permission of their patients. The barriers which restrict the
working of the public health organizations is their less activeness on the twitter accounts and the
lack of users engagement. Individuals handling the twitter accounts of respective public health
organizations might not be well trained and skilled. The biggest limitation of using twitter is
negative criticism, as customers even sometimes comment and complain about the health
services publicly. The negative comment might result in framing the bad reputation of the public
health account holder. Another limitation posed by twitter is its limited character limit of 280
characters. Organizations might take a long time to communicate effectively on twitter.
Future of Twitter
Twitter has not only become an important networking tool for the health experts but also for the
patients as most of the people agreed that they prefer to choose their particular doctor based on
social media. Twitter offers tangible benefits to the patients if the twitter account is used
adequately by healthcare organizations and medical professionals. This could be achieved only if
twitter is used correctly to construct good relationships and by spreading worth sharing
information with the audience including experts, patients and public health organizational
leaders. It is suggested that one should focus on spreading quality health-specific information

and the content to be shared on twitter should be original and curated in comparison to others.
Another recommendation for the health practitioners is to use the right hashtags as they are
frequently misjudged by many when they are used on twitter, bringing about a typical abuse of
this supportive device for content disclosure. It is essential as a twitter user to utilize close to
three hashtags per tweet to abstain from abusing this supportive procedure. The hashtags utilized
ought to be a blend of hashtags utilized in the specific industry by others, just as a couple of
hashtags made by you explicitly to arrange your substance. Medical professionals should be
provided the right kind of training to use social media effectively, which can pose a positive
influence on the quality followers.
Conclusion
This report has successfully discussed the significance of social media tool i.e Twitter to promote
health care services. Twitter helps to understand the medical field just like a layman and also
helps to gain some useful insights. New products and processes related to the medical field can
be well known through this platform. It is mainly applicable in making health preventions, health
promotions and making better health services & reporting. Twitter is found to be very user-
friendly and cost-effective tool. Three public-health related twitter accounts (@DigitalHealth,
@ehealthpaho, @_PHAA_) have been analyzed to predict the ways and the impact of their
communication on the users through their twitter account. Twitter can be used more effectively
by spreading quality health-specific information, by using the right hashtags and providing the
right kind of training to the medical professionals so that they can share and communicate
positively.