Insomnia Hub

Summary

The Insomnia Hub is curated by health change agents (educators, clinicians, researchers, & students) who interprofessionally share their knowledge — ‘what’s proven to work & where to find it’ — to LEAD.

Leverage social media to
Engage and share knowledge interprofessionally to
Accelerate population health &
Disseminate ‘what works’ for health & well-being.

OnAir Post: Insomnia Hub

Why be a Change Agent?

Fifty to 70 million Americans struggle with insomnia. How many are hooked on sleeping pills? About 60 million scripts were written for those pills in 2011.  But, the American College of Physicians says that a non-drug therapy is best!  Isn’t it time for those with the knowledge to speak up to the ‘Ask your Doctor’ hype?

Don Berwick, MDDr. Don Berwick’s Open School and the Change Agent Network (I-CAN) teaches how each one of us – together – can make a difference in healthcare. The Hub offers a fast & easy way to do so.

The top job in healthcare is to ‘inform & activate’ people to use best practices and where to find help. Professionals and learners alike can serve the public by sharing what we know (sample post) and where to find it (sample profile).

Were you taught to share?

Most in healthcare have not been taught to use social media to promote ‘what works’ despite the recommendation of the Clinical Prevention and Population Health Curriculum Framework. The Hub provides an easy-to-use, hands-on way for students to learn interprofessional communication skills – in a safe, curated environment.

Who has a professional presence online?

In this Mayo Social Media Network clip, healthcare leaders highlight over 15 benefits of being social.

Message from the Lead Curator

Welcome to our non-profit social enterprise. As a health psychologist, I’ve directed state-of-the-art Sim Center courses in clinical skills at ‘America’s Medical School’ and have worked with the Medstar Georgetown Sleep Center team for over 2 decades. Having completed the Mayo Social Media Residency and the IHI I-CAN course, as well as being a member of the Societies for Participatory Medicine, Media Psychology, and Health Psychology, I’m convinced that educators and learners can LEAD – together.

My deepest appreciation goes to Drs. Gary Kreps and Kathy Rowan, GMU Professors of Communication. Using service-learning, Dr. Kreps offered his students in Health Comm and Health Comm Campaigns the opportunity to design, prototype, and pilot our project. And, Dr. Rowan has given her students in Pubic Relations and in Science Communication the opportunity to help develop the Hub as well. We hope more professors will join us to use the Hub as a training tool for interprofessional communication.

The ultimate aim is to co-create a network of Health Hubs – to spread ‘what works’ for you-name-it health topic (e.g., Mental Disorders, Weight Management, Physical Activity, Well-Being, etc). Our pilots have indicated widespread interest in our developing a proposed health campaign (intercollegiate competition) … March Madness for Total Fitness.  In the future, we hope your school will compete to have the most impact.

Thank you,
Meredith Cary, PsyD

Discuss

OnAir membership is required. The lead Moderator for the discussions is Meredith Cary. We encourage civil, honest, and safe discourse. For more information on commenting and giving feedback, see our Comment Guidelines.

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