‘Facebooking’ your doctor’s appointment

Telemedicine, which allows doctors to communicate, diagnose and even treat their patients remotely is on the rise thanks to advances in information technology. It allows healthcare workers to securely monitor patients in inaccessible parts of the world as well as providing more timely responses for patients in many situations. New research suggests that the well-known social networking site, Facebook, and smart phone use could make telemedicine even more common and useful in healthcare.