Dr. Nick Bennett, the infectious disease and immunology medical director for Connecticut Children’s Medical Center in Hartford, said he benefits professionally from Twitter. He created his account, @peds_id_doc, a few years ago to see what Twitter was about, and he’s remained a loyal user.

Bennett started by following health-related accounts and live tweeting from conferences. He also joined Twitter chats – conversations that use hash tags to link tweets. For example, #hcsm is a weekly, moderated conversation about health and social media, and #mdchat is a chat for doctors.

Bennett, who now has more than 3,300 followers, quickly realized that people were interested in what he had to say, and he began #Micro140, a chat that allows for case-based learning. Bennett describes a medical scenario and doctors from around the world would ask questions. As the conversation evolved, Bennett said he provided teaching points and health professionals offered comments.

But some doctors, including Dr. Cory Edgar, an assistant professor in the Department of Orthopedic Surgery at UConn Health Center in Farmington, are reluctant to use social media. He and other doctors want to maintain privacy and avoid interacting with patients outside of the office.

“I am a ‘new age’ doctor that emails patients and is developing a website for patient information, but I don’t feel medicine has a place on Twitter,” Edgar said.

A few professional organizations have established guidelines to help the many doctors who do want to use the technology.

In 2013, the American College of Physicians published a policy paper urging doctors to “pause before posting” and recommended that doctors not “friend” patients.

“Online technologies present both opportunities and challenges to professionalism,” the paper reads. “They offer innovative ways for physicians to interact with patients and positively affect the health of communities, but the tenets of professionalism and of the patient–physician relationship should govern these interactions.”

Earlier this year, the American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists published its own opinion on social media, leaving decisions regarding social media up to individual doctors.

While there are certainly doctors who have opted not to embrace social media, others are already studying how Twitter and Facebook can be used to help with patient care.

A recent research study by Boston Children’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School indicates that social media can be useful in ways beyond networking and the sharing of information. The study “demonstrated a novel method for studying sleep issues that allows for fast, cost-effective, and customizable data to be gathered.”

Dr. Vivian Argento, executive director of the geriatrics and palliative care service line for Bridgeport Hospital, is a new convert to Twitter.

“I wanted to try it out and get a feel for how to use it,” she said. “Many conference organizations promoted tweeting during the conferences, and I wanted to see what benefit that would have.”

Argento, who tweets as @ArgentoMD, says she uses Twitter as a networking tool and shares professional thoughts or stories. She says she never shares specific patient information and never talks to patients on social media because of privacy concerns. Patients, however, will expect more interaction with their doctors on social media in the future, she said.

According to the Pew Research Center, 72 percent of all online adults use Facebook, the most popular platform, while 23 percent use Twitter.

“I believe social media is a powerful tool for education and patient engagement and that it is important to learn how to use the features of social media to patients’ benefit,” Argento said. “There are studies that have linked health behavior to our social circles. I believe if we can create networks of people who face similar health conditions, we can use social media and the power of the group to foster healthier behaviors. It’s a new type of support group.”

Bennett has also used Twitter for research. He learned about the Enterovirus D68 last year by mail, but turned to Twitter when he needed more information. He contacted follower Jason Newland, a pediatric infectious disease physician in Missouri, to discuss the health threat, which started in the western part of the United States and moved east. After exchanging Twitter messages, Bennett said he was confident that Connecticut residents would be fine.

He’s also turned to Twitter when stumped by resistant bacteria, soliciting opinions from other doctors.

“When you put the request out, you can reach tens of thousands of people very quickly,” Bennett said.

Bennett said he likes Twitter because it allows for quick responses and easy access to a wide range of medical experts. Bennett said he has helped others, including medical students, colleagues and his own patients, through Twitter. Bennett said he occasionally responds to questions from his patients via Twitter’s direct messaging.

“Physicians have to get on board with social media,” Bennett said, adding that patient privacy must always be maintained in the process.

Wearable technology is still evolving, but doctors already see the benefits, says Stephen Huot, a medical professor at Yale University. And while technology is not a substitute for doctor-patient conversations, “it could be game changing,” he says.

A nationwide Pew Research Center survey in 2012 found that 69 percent of adults monitor at least one health indicator, such as weight, diet or exercise, and 21 percent said they used some form of technology to keep track. That number is projected to increase as wearable technology becomes more available. By 2025, some experts say, wearable and embedded devices will be common.

Pew Center also reported that 46 percent of those surveyed said that keeping track of health data changed their overall approach to maintaining their health or the health of someone for whom they provide care. In addition, 40 percent said tracking data led them to ask a doctor new questions or prompted them to get a second opinion.

Adam Mayerson, a Hamden endocrinologist, prescribes wearable technology, including glucose monitors and insulin pumps, to many of his diabetic patients.

Instead of waiting for blood test results, Mayerson’s patients use the glucose monitors. By inserting a small patch with a wire lead under the skin, blood-sugar levels are measured every five minutes. The results are beamed to a pocket-sized device that both displays numbers and tells a patient whether their levels have increased or decreased.

“It gives more context,” Mayerson says explaining that he can download up to three months of patient data from the device to create charts and graphs.

Patients can also send data from the device to smartphones. They still have to perform blood tests, Mayerson says, but they only have to do so twice a day rather than six to 10 times a day.

In addition to glucose monitors, Mayerson is a proponent of insulin pumps. The computerized devices deliver a constant amount of insulin throughout the day and can deliver more when a patient is eating. Pumps are more convenient than injections, and will only improve with technological advancements, Mayerson says.

Mayerson also encourages his patients to use of Fitbits, pedometers and apps that help track diet and exercise.

ZetroOz.com Photo

ZetroOz developed this battery-powered ultrasound therapy device.

In a 2014 report, Endeavour Partners, a strategy consulting firm that specializes in mobile and digital businesses and technologies, reported that one in 10 U.S. consumers over the age of 18 owned an activity tracker such as a Fitbit.

For Megan Doherty of New Haven, technology has made living with diabetes better in many of the ways. Doherty, who is not a patient of Mayerson, uses a glucose monitor that she carries in a small, pink leather case and an insulin pump that is attached to her at all times. The devices provide her with trend and history information. The immediate feedback helps her to make better decisions, she says.

“I feel more in control of my diabetes, which means I feel safer doing higher-risk activities like parenting and driving,” Doherty says.

Wearable technology has also helped Dianna Cutler of the Southport section of Fairfield.

Cutler suffered from a frozen shoulder, and her physical therapist suggested she use sam® Professional System, a battery-powered device that provides continuous ultrasound therapy for up to four hours a day. ZetrOZ, a Trumbull-based company, created the device, which the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved in 2014. Cutler used it for about 2½ months, placing it under clothing while she did her normal activities.

“The very first day after using the sam® product, I experienced relief,” Cutler says. “It was almost a miracle, and the increased mobility was apparent after the first use.”

The device also helped Stamford resident Michael Kirshbaum. He said the sam® system accelerated the mobility and healing of a partially torn rotator cuff and reduced his pain. The device was an alternative to painkillers, which could have damaged the transplanted liver he received eight years ago, he says.

“If technology can assist in healing, I am all for it,” Kirshbaum says.

As an assistant professor in the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery at UConn Health Center in Farmington, Cory Edgar prescribes the sam® system. He said it is easy to use, improves circulation and may reduce pain and improve healing capacity. As a bonus, there are no significant side effects, he says.

“I believe in the technology and approach as a clinical scientist,” Edgar says. “I have seen some early and clear subjective results in my patients.”

Huot notes that wearable technology is mostly prescribed by doctors in cardiovascular and internal medicine. The devices provide objective data—real-time feedback—that allows patients to be more engaged and more honest with themselves. The data also can spark conversation in a doctor’s office, he says.

But while a useful tool, Huot urges caution when using wearable devices. Doctors need better ways of getting the information and assessing it, he says. “I think the technology is going to develop quicker than the interface.”

Jessica Hollenbach, the director of asthma programs at the Connecticut Children’s Medical Center, agreed with the report, done by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and said tobacco is a negative toxin that can make other illnesses worse.

Hollenbach studies the relationship between secondhand smoke exposure and asthma in children. She said tobacco is an asthma trigger, and children with asthma often have higher exposure to second-hand smoke.

In Connecticut, 13.9 percent of public school students have asthma, according to a state Department of Public Health report released last year. The report also found that asthma prevalence rates significantly increased, from 13.2 percent in 2006 to 14.2 percent in 2011.

Tobacco smoke continues to affect non-smokers, and many people don’t realize that, said long-time anti-smoking advocate Pat Checko, who is a member of the boards of directors for the Connecticut Public Health Association, the Tobacco and Health Trust Fund and the MATCH Coalition.

“In some ways, tobacco doesn’t resonate with the public anymore, because they think it’s taken care of,” she said.

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Exposure to secondhand smoke remains high for children ages 3-11.

Checko said young children are especially hurt by secondhand smoke because they are still developing. Children are at greater risk now, Checko said, because due to bans smoking often shifts from the workplace to homes and other private places.

[Children] “are really prisoners in the house,” Checko said, adding that households with smokers should establish rules. “Take it outside.”

In its report, the CDC stated that while the number of people who are exposed to second-hand smoke has dropped significantly over the years, 58 million U.S. residents are still exposed.

The CDC found that about two in five children, including seven in 10 African-American children, are exposed to secondhand smoke. Nearly half of black nonsmokers and more than two in five nonsmokers who live below the poverty level are also exposed, as are more than one in three nonsmokers who live in rental housing, according to the report.

“Eliminating smoking in indoor spaces is the only way to fully protect nonsmokers from secondhand smoke exposure,” said state Department of Public Health spokesman William Gerrish.

In Connecticut, 2014 statistics show that about 30 percent of non-smoking adults and 38 percent of the state’s children are exposed to secondhand smoke. A 2004 state law prohibits smoking in restaurants, bars and many workplaces, but it leaves room for several exceptions.

More changes are needed, and Gerrish said his agency provides assistance and resources to housing complexes and workplaces that do not have smoke-free policies in place.

Marianne Mitchell, a nurse practitioner in Danbury Hospital‘s pulmonary department who also runs Quit Now, the hospital’s smoking cessation program, said she regularly sees patients — mostly adults — with illnesses, such as bronchitis, that are present for a prolonged period of time. While the patients don’t smoke, she said, they often live with, or grew up with, someone who did, she said.

“They just catch things a lot quicker, and it stays around longer,” Mitchell said.

Checko said she was not surprised by the CDC’s latest findings. For years she has advocated for comprehensive anti-smoking policies in Connecticut, and she has identified areas where changes should be made.

In addition to children, anyone living in multi-unit dwellings such as apartment buildings or senior housing complexes are also at great risk of secondhand smoke exposure because air is shared, Checko said. About 40 housing authorities in Connecticut have implemented smoke-free policies, but more need to do so, she said. The MATCH Coalition works with the state to encourage housing authorities to go smoke-free.

Karen DuBois-Walton , the executive director of the New Haven Housing Authority, said the authority surveyed most of its residents to determine smoking rates and interest in smoke-free housing. The results were mixed, she said.

As a result, DuBois-Walton said, the housing authority is focusing on smoking cessation in an effort to build consensus for a smoke-free environment. One non-smoking housing building is currently available in New Haven, and the long-term goal is to introduce smoke-free communities more broadly, she said.

In addition to public housing authorities, Checko said private landlords should be encouraged to prohibit smoking in their buildings. And state lawmakers can help stop exposure to second-hand smoke as well, she said.

Checko said the legislature should stop raiding the Tobacco and Health Trust Fund, which was established to fund anti-smoking efforts. It should also do more to make more workplaces and buildings smoke-free, she said. Checko said private clubs, such as Veterans of Foreign Wars’ halls, are not required to be smoke-free.

Electronic cigarettes also need to be treated as a tobacco product, Checko said.

The CDC reported this month that e-cigarette use among high and middle school students tripled from 2013 to 2014.

Allowing smoking in private clubs and electronic cigarettes are issues currently being discussed by the General Assembly. A bill that would prohibit smoking in private clubs died in the legislature’s public health committee, but the same committee passed a bill that would ban the use of electronic, or vapor, cigarettes in many public places, including bars and restaurants. Under the legislation, electronic cigarettes would still be allowed in several locations, including workplaces and public housing.

The public health committee also passed a bill that would prohibit people from smoking in a motor vehicle when children are in the car.

Still, the Enfield resident says she’s never been treated as an equal in her 24 years as a soldier, and she doesn’t believe that will change once she retires at the end of this year.

According to a January report released by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, Connecticut is home to 16,545 female veterans — a number that is expected to grow. As these women return to Connecticut, they need support, information, and access to appropriate, quality care. A measure being considered by state lawmakers would help them.

The bill, passed by the legislature’s Veterans’ Affairs Committee last week, now heads to the Senate. It would create an organization – the Connecticut Women Veterans’ Program — that would work to educate female veterans about federal and state benefits and services. The program would also assess the needs of the veterans and review programs and research projects designed to address those needs. Recommendations would be submitted to the veterans’ affairs commissioner.

The bill, modeled after a program in Indiana, would require no new funding and appears to have bipartisan support.

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The bill under consideration creates the Connecticut Women Veterans’ Program.

“The past and current conflicts across the globe have seen veteran women increasing in record numbers,” said state Rep. Jack Hennessy, D-Bridgeport, co-chairman of the veterans’ committee. “It is time we recognize women’s contributions as mutual partners. The Connecticut Women Veterans’ Program will take us a positive step forward toward addressing their specific needs.”

Female veterans tend not to seek help, and they often don’t use VA services, said Heather Sandler of Glastonbury, who served in the U.S. Navy before joining U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal’s staff as a senior constituent liaison for military and veterans affairs.

“As a female veteran, I know our demographic is hard to reach,” she said.

Davis agreed, adding that many women either aren’t aware of the resources available, or they have a negative opinion of those services. “When you watch them, they isolate themselves very quickly,” she said.

In recent years, the federal VA has taken steps to help female veterans, and it released a report in February that profiles women veterans using a 2012 American Community Survey. At that time, there were an estimated 1.6 million female veterans nationwide. Today, there are more than 2 million.

Statistics show that more women veterans served after Sept. 11, 2001, than during any other period of service, including peacetime. Eighty percent of women veterans were 35 or older with a median age of 48. The median age for male veterans was 63.

When it comes to health care, women veterans were less likely than male veterans to have health insurance. Of the country’s women veterans, the report says 7.7 percent were uninsured compared to 5.7 percent of male veterans.

The report also says that women veterans are more likely to have service disabilities and less likely to use Veterans Health Administration services. Women who do use these services are more likely than men to use only VA health services and not additional private sector services.

“In veterans affairs policies, and in all state policies, we must always be asking, ‘What are our weaknesses? How can we turn those weaknesses into strengths?’ ” said state Sen. Henri Martin, R-Bristol.

More should be done to emphasize the services available to women, added state Rep. David Yaccarino, R-North Haven. “I think sometimes women are overlooked,” he said.

The Permanent Commission on the Status of Women would agree. In written testimony, the commission stated that female veterans have an increased risk and incidence of sexual assault compared to male veterans, which often results in post-traumatic stress disorder and depression. The proposed bill “recognizes the reality that long-standing veterans’ programs were not developed with the unique needs of women veterans in mind,” the commission stated.

Connecticut briefly had a program that served female veterans. In 2010, Linda Schwartz, the former commissioner of the state Department of Veterans’ Affairs, established the Connecticut Women Veterans’ Network to help the state identify unmet needs. It is no longer active.

In the absence of a formal state program, the department urges female veterans to utilize a federal program.

“We serve all veterans in Connecticut, but we do believe if we had the resources and funding, we … would be able to focus more on the different population of veterans in Connecticut and how their differences require alternative support services,” said the department in a statement.