The goals of eliminating prostate cancer (PCa) disparities remain elusive. PCa is the most common cancer in American men. African American men have a 60% higher incidence than Caucasian American men and their death rates are 2.5 times that of Caucasian and American Indians and 5 times that of Asian or Pacific Islanders. Transformative technologies, like social media, can address PCa disparities in a completely new and innovative way. We performed an intensive competitor analysis of available online physician communities that revealed no online communities exist that solely focus on healthcare disparities. No one person has enough accurate and credible information from multiple vantage points to drive towards the elimination of today's health disparities. Hence, we have developed a collaboration platform called TransilienceHD. TransilienceHD is not simply just another social media platform; it is a powerful collaboration and ideation platform that brings experts together to inspire, promote, and deploy actionable ideas that can lead to expedited insight into chronic health diseases, and contribute to the elimination of health disparities globally. The collective intelligence of physicians, health advocacy and policy professionals, and scientists united on TransilienceHD can discuss the latest in the field, foster interdisciplinary interactions, stimulat the development of novel and innovative research, and discuss how social and economic determinants of health play a major role in PCa disparities. Another innovative feature of TransilienceHD is that it provides users with up-to-date information on relevant clinical trials. TransilienceHD also facilitates faster access to geographically dispersed physicians and health care professionals, enables efficient and effective consultative services, provides an opportunity to initiate, participate, and recruit for clinical trials, and builds a community focused on disparte PCa outcomes. Items adapted from the Technology Acceptance Model were used to assess the acceptance and use of TransilienceHD among a diverse group of physicians, scientists, health care executives, and health policy professionals. Eighty-five percent of participants found TransilienceHD easy to use and believed it could enhance effectiveness in patient care and management. Seventy nine percent thought that TransilienceHD has the potential to make patient care and management easier and 81% believed this collaboration platform could improve patient care and management. Google Analytics revealed 1201 sessions were performed on desktop (85%), mobile (12.5%), and tablet (2.5%) devices over a 30-day period. The average pages viewed per session were 14.56 and the average session length was 11.39 minutes. Participants using their desktop computer spent an average of 12. 29 minutes per session. The universal access to the platform has the potential to improve operational inefficiencies and health care qualities by getting patients to specialists for faster diagnosis an appropriate care. Thus, the opportunity is clear and the right platform is finally here to help overcome PCa disparities by collaborating from any device, anytime.
Disparities in prostate cancer incidence, outcome, and mortality represent one of the most unfortunate dilemmas in healthcare. This proposal aims to assess strategies for adoption and the usability and impact of a webenabled collaboration platform for health care professionals and physicians. It will also develop a research network of physicians interested in clinical tral participation. This novel integration of health information technology with targeted users will e transdisciplinary and have the potential to transform prostate cancer care and help to eliminate disparate outcomes of this condition.
