Why Patients Join Plm Essay

Why do patients join PLM? Does the platform work for any disease? PLM is a social network for patients. The goal of PLM is to improve the life of patients with chronic and life-changing diseases by sharing one’s health issue or experiences. Patients join PLM to gain information and experiences from other patients, who also have the same disease as theirs. Patients like PLM because it allows them to share their personal experiences with their conditions, find others who have the same disease, and learn from each other. In addition to social networking, PLM members can obtain a summary report of a drug that includes side-effects, treatment, how much dosage taken by other patients, and why they take or stop taking the drug. Similarly, patients can also get a summary report of their medical record that includes symptoms, treatment, and details about their condition over the time. Patients find this information is useful and helpful. Currently, the platform doesn’t work for any disease; however, the goal is to build the platform that will to able to provide a large set of diseases and encourage patients to be more engaged. PLM is launching the general platform that will provide over 3,500 diseases and will create additional communities.

What are the reactions of physicians …show more content…
Some doctors like PLM and encourage patients to take advantage of available resources and be well-informed. It is helpful for doctors to have knowledgeable patients because it makes their communication easy and comprehensible. Doctors think that patients need beyond medicine to help them feel better, and sites that offer communities like PLM give a beneficial support in emotionally and psychologically. On the other hand, some doctors do not approve of using sites like PLM because they believe PLM provide only partial data about a patient’s medical history and unsubstantial. They believe sites like PLM could only do