- Title
- Social networking services in support of patient centred care: a South African perspective
- Creator
- Mentoor, Allisson Catherine Ebony
- Subject
- Online social networks -- Research -- South Africa
- Subject
- Medical care -- Technological innovations -- South Africa
- Subject
- Patient-centered health care -- South Africa
- Date Issued
- 2017
- Date
- 2017
- Type
- Thesis
- Type
- Masters
- Type
- MTech
- Identifier
- http://hdl.handle.net/10948/7334
- Identifier
- vital:21321
- Description
- In an effort to improve the South African healthcare system, the Department of Health in South Africa is investing in National Health Insurance to support and deliver access to quality healthcare services within affordable boundaries. Enhanced delivery and quality of care to patients is supplemented through an increased emphasis on the adoption of eHealth technologies and systems. Within the context of efforts to improve access to quality and affordable healthcare services, there is also increasing awareness of the need to adopt a patient centred care approach as a means of caring for the patient, rather than only caring for the disease. Patient centred care emphasises the need for patients to be actively involved in the decision making process with regards to their needs and treatment. Social networking is viewed as a useful tool to support patient centred care and to improve on healthcare delivery. The use of social networking services beyond the healthcare context has increased exponentially. This has lead to increased interest in the application of social networking in healthcare. This leads to the problem statement of this research, which is the proliferation of social networking services and the lack of understanding of the prospect of social networking services for patient centred care in South Africa. In order to address this problem, the research investigates three areas of focus, namely patient centred care, the South African healthcare sector and social networking services. This generates an understanding of the meaning of patient centred care in general, and also in this study; the status quo in South African healthcare and the incorporation of patient centred care within selected strategic healthcare directives; social networking services in general as well as its application in healthcare; and the factors affecting the use of social networking services for patient centred care in the South African healthcare context. The factors are analysed to explore the prospects of social networking services for patient centred care in South African healthcare. The outcome of this analysis represents a useful input for healthcare providers and administrators in government.
- Format
- ix, 102 leaves
- Format
- Publisher
- Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University
- Publisher
- Faculty of Engineering, the Built Environment and Information Technology
- Language
- English
- Rights
- Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University
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