Did you know that a recent study of 1,229 U.S. hospitals revealed that 814 had Twitter accounts?

That sounds pretty impressive, but it placed Twitter just third in the survey amongst the major social networks. Surprisingly, Foursquare (946 accounts) bagged the second spot, with Facebook (1068 Pages) comfortably leading the way.

The evolution of social media amongst healthcare professionals has been driven by a greater need for transparency, and a 2012 consumer poll revealed that 54 percent of patients are comfortable with their medical providers seeking advice from online communities to help better treat their conditions. Less than one in ten stated that they were “very uncomfortable” with the idea.

This, and other data, can be found in this infographic which takes a closer look at how healthcare pros are using social media.

(Source: Healthcare IT News. Social media image via Shutterstock.)