User:Haela258/sandbox

Health literacy is the ability to understand basic help information in order to make appropriate health decisions. This terminology has become very widespread during our current global situation dealing with COVID-19. People are becoming, or trying to become, more knowledgeable about their overall health, including their decision on practitioners and facilities. Some are still uncertain on which routes they should take, and you would be surprised to see how social media can play such a big role in people’s decisions. By creating a social network analysis (SNA) through the platform, Gephi, you can see many tweets from Twitter on the thoughts of people around this globe pertaining to their health and the current pandemic we are experiencing. You are also able to see how those tweets can be connected to other people. This can help clinicians improve in their communication with their patients. They can see how the patients feel, what they are against, what they are not against, and even a why. The why is important because it gives insight and the clinician can know how to properly handle the patient, their appropriate health needs, and their wishes all at once without conflict. This is a new approach that can help everyone involved by being able to relate to one another with genuine intentions and care. Clinicians are supposed to be knowledgeable in their medical study which is understood. However, it is likely for a patient to be knowledgeable about their health, and for the clinician to not have all the answers all the time. That is a point that was brought up on a social network analysis via Twitter. Clinicians need to recognize that patients can be knowledgeable about their own self and their health needs/care. The competent clinicians will be able to still meet their patients’ needs all while respecting their prior knowledge, if it is appropriate.