Medical advances are happening at a seemingly break neck speed. Technology has greatly eased many tasks in our daily lives at work, at home and socially. It has also made it more difficult in some aspects. There is more we need to learn and know how to use. This is true for everyone but especially physicians. Not only are new technologies being developed in the practice of medicine, such as robotics and nanotechnologies, but in the more mundane aspects of how we communicate with each other and with our patients. The population is aging and suffering more complicated diseases. Our knowledge of these diseases has grown exponentially, as well as the treatment options available. It has never been more important to be able to communicate with other physicians and to get information out that is easily accessible for patients to learn about their disease processes and become advocates for themselves. Yet, 44% of physicians do not use social media at work and 60% use it for personal use only.
While it has been estimated that 90% of all adults in this country are using social media, 29% of doctors do not use it at all. Less than 30% use it for keeping up with medical news and/or interacting with peers. One of the reasons 23% of doctors cite for not using it is that they are not familiar with it. Other reasons include privacy concerns, time constraints, liability issues and the belief that there is no value in it. Another big concern for physicians is HIPAA concerns and there have been cases where doctors have gotten into trouble for this. Doctors are obviously lagging behind other fields in the use of social media. But, more and more doctors are finding the benefits of using these tools in medicine.
What are the benefits of using social media for physicians?
1. Clinical collaboration: Doctors are now able to communicate through social media channels. In earlier times, if we would want to get the opinion or help of a colleague, we would resort to attempting to contact them by phone or sending a written request. Social media has revolutionized the ways doctors can communicate with each other. Now we able to crowd source. We can get more opinions in less time. Our colleagues are much more easily accessible and it can be done in real-time while we are treating a patient. We can use advanced technology to share things such as digital x-rays. These goals can be accomplished on various social media channels. Twitter is one example but it is sometimes hard to tweet to the doctors you need the information from. The best way to truly crowd source among colleagues is through online communities. You can share information in physician only communities that are not accessible to the public. Perhaps the best in this regards is Sermo ( https://www.sermo.com ) because it is truly HIPAA compliant in that not only are the patients anonymous, the doctors are as well. It would be nearly impossible to trace a certain case back to a specific patient. Yet only 29% of doctors are using online physician communities
2. Disseminating information for patients: A big task for doctors is educating our patients. We do this by giving written advice and handing out patient educational materials from various sources. Now, providing patients with educational materials is much easier. We can give them links to various websites that we feel beneficial. And we can disseminate general medical information through various channels: twitter, Facebook and blogging are good examples. There may be a day that it is reasonable for a doctor to communicate with their patients through social media platforms. However, at this stage, HIPAA greatly limits what we can do in this regards. But, we can direct a patient to a particular post we blogged or tweeted in order for them to get a greater understanding of their circumstances.
3. Medical Education Between Physicians: As physicians, our learning and studying never ends. We are required to get so many CME hours by our licensing boards. But, we also need to stay abreast of changes happening in our respective fields. We have been attending live events for ages. We can now attend teleconferences and webinars. Again, social media has changed the landscape in this regards. We now can have twitter chats amongst trusted colleagues around certain medical topics. And we can learn the latest medical news on social media sites such as twitter and Facebook. Great examples of this are the recent twitter chats about the outbreak of Ebola in Western Africa. The CDC tweeted the most updated information and told providers here in the US how to be prepared. This would have been much more difficult in previous years. Now, we have it all available in one place with not much effort to find it. Also, research studies can be spread through social media. Groundbreaking studies and changes in treatment guidelines can be spread to those who need to know in a much more efficient way than hoping physicians happen on the information. Announcements for webinars and other educational events can be announced through social media, drawing in more attendees and making it a much more rewarding educational experience.
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4. Building connections: The days of handing out business cards are over. We are no longer only connected to our colleagues and others at the hospital we work at. We can now connect with doctors and others all across the globe. This is made possible in many different platforms: twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook. They all have their own intricacies of how connections are made possible. But, this increased connectivity has the potential to change healthcare around the world. We can share medical information with doctors in other countries. We can learn treatment nuances from those same doctors that we may not have known otherwise.
Social media is truly transforming the way healthcare communications are happening. Many doctors are slow to pick up on this very valuable tool and soon will be lost in the system unless they join this modern intercommunication landscape, a landscape that is flourishing before our very eyes.
