Doctors are making house calls via texting, blogs and social networks like Facebook and Twitter.

« The teenager’s cellphone buzzes. Her doctor, Natasha Burgert, is texting her: “Better morning with this medication?”

Another teenager opens his phone. “Everything is great,” reads Dr. Burgert’s discreet text. “Go ahead with the plan we discussed. Please reply so I know you received.”

And on the morning of college entrance exams, a teenager who suffers from a roiling stomach reads Dr. Burgert’s texted greeting: “Prepared. Focused. Calm. Your body is healthy and well. Good luck today.”

Dr. Burgert, a pediatrician in Kansas City, Mo., is making house calls. She is among a small but growing number of practitioners using social media to engage adolescents. Her patients read her blog and follow her on Twitter and Facebook. She even follows a few of the teenagers’ blogs, commenting occasionally.

During checkups, Dr. Burgert no longer gives teenagers brochures with advice on healthy living — which usually led to glazed expressions and teeming wastebaskets. Instead, a whiteboard hangs in her exam room, with hyperlinks and QR codes to sites with teenager-friendly material on sexuality, alcohol and drugs. The teenagers can photograph the board with their phones, storing the information to peruse in private. » (…)

See on well.blogs.nytimes.com