MONTHLY MUSINGS
How can you stay connected with PatientsLikeMe – and other patients?
Let’s say you’re a new member. You’ve completed your profile, but you haven’t connected with that many other patients yet. Some weeks, you forget to check in and update things at PatientsLikeMe because life gets in the way. What can do you to stay on top of your profile as well as what patients like you are learning? Here are four easy ways to get more involved and stay better connected:
Saved Search Alerts On the Patients tab, you can search for patients just like you using filters such as condition, gender, age, treatment and more. Now, you can also save your searches and get an email notification anytime someone who meets your search criteria joins. Simply click the yellow bell icon to turn on these alerts.
Profile Update Reminders Things happen with your health all the time – not just on the day you’ve got a doctor’s appointment. Why not sign up to get regular email prompts to update your profile? It’ll help you capture subtle changes, spot emerging patterns and have a complete record for your Doctor Visit Sheet.
Mobile InstantMe Update Has something with your health put you in a good or bad mood today? Update your InstantMe survey on the go using your iPhone/iPad. (See “This Month’s Site Improvements” below for more details on this new application (or “app”), currently available to three-star members.
Thread/Profile Subscriptions Have you noticed that certain PatientsLikeMe members have a similar health status as you…but are trying a different treatment? Follow their experiences with other treatments by “subscribing” to their profiles and/or forum threads. Their updates will then automatically feed to your homepage.
THIS MONTH’S SITE IMPROVEMENTS
Thanks for your awesome feedback as we continue working to improve our site. In this section, we’ll keep you up-to-date on new tools and features designed to make your PatientsLikeMe experience even better.
Here are our top functionality enhancements for July:
Are you an iPhone or iPad user? We have taken the first steps towards an app that will allow you to update your InstantMe survey on the go! No matter where you are, you can now share how you’re feeling and why.
Before rolling it out to everyone, we’re first giving our three-star members access to this app to help us test it out. (If you earn three stars, you’ll automatically see the button to download the app on your profile.) Stay tuned as we work to expand this new and exciting functionality to all members as well as other types of mobile devices.
Last month, we introduced our clinical trial search feature, and since then, you’ve given us a lot of helpful feedback. Thank you! Here are some of our recent upgrades based on your input.
- Now you can select “Dismiss All” to clear out a large number of clinical trial matches – instead of having to delete them individually.
- Want to search “closed trials” that are no longer actively enrolling? Now you can do that too. This is helpful for past trial participants as well as those taking a drug that may be under investigation.