Role of Social Media Promotion of Prescription Drugs on Patient Belief-system and Behaviour

Abstract

In the current scenario, extremely little information exists on the uses, benefits, and limitations of social media for health communication among the patients and health professionals. Further, how it is affecting the patient belief system and behavior is even less studied, but it is emerging on the research horizon due to its growing significance in this digital age. This is a review article using a systematic approach. We performed a systematic literature search for papers that address social media–related challenges and opportunities for pharmaceutical drugs. It identifies the needs that propel patients to take recourse to SMPs; the benefits they derive from these and their limitations. This review article confirms that healthcare information provided by the social media sites has been found to be beneficial in many ways for the stakeholders and that it complements existing patient-physician interaction. However, it has limitations that need to be explored and understood to avoid ill consequences.