The Shanghai Children’s Hospital has just launched an online registration system through its official WeChat account, the first pediatric hospital in Shanghai to do so. And as Song Wenjing of ICS reports, more and more major hospitals are using social media like Weibo and WeChat to communicate with patients and offer services.
The Shanghai Children’s Hospital has just launched an online registration system through its official WeChat account, the first pediatric hospital in Shanghai to do so.
The Shanghai Children’s Hospital has just launched an online registration system through its official WeChat account, the first pediatric hospital in Shanghai to do so.
Gao Peipei took her one-and-half year-old daughter to the Putuo branch of Shanghai Children’s Hospital this morning, after she had an attack of diarrhea last night. Gao used the hospital’s official wechat account to make an appointment. And when she got to the hospital an hour later, all she had to do was pay the 14 yuan registry fee and wait about 10 minutes to see a doctor.
"We live in Jiading District. Waiting for a whole morning or afternoon is normal at pediatric hospitals, and I usually have to arrive very early to get an appointment number. With WeChat, I can better arrange my time," she said.
"I may consider trying the service, because wechat is among the most popular social networking tools that we use. But after all, the problem is a lack of pediatricians and hospitals," Chen ruiming said.
To make a doctor’s appointment through wechat, parents use the child’s Chinese social security card number. The system doesn’t allow adults to register using their own ID card numbers, in order to be more efficient. WeChat also has real-time information on how many people are waiting for each specialist. The hospital has four staff members maintaining its account, which already has more than 12,000 followers.
"Now the number of specialist appointments we offer online still accounts for a small part of the total. We are not sure how many appointments we should offer, depending on different departments. If we put all of the appointments online, then patients who come here directly may complain they cannot get a reservation," said Wang Shu, Information Dept., Shanghai Children's Hospital.
The hospital is now tracking how long patients have to wait in each department, so it can tweak the system to meet demand. It also plans to let patients pay their registration fees using wechat. Besides, Shanghai No. 9 People’s Hospital, Ruijin Hospital, Xinhua Hospital and Renji Hospital are all using mobile apps to serve their clients. But so far, the service is only available in Chinese.
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