Deploying Medical Students to Combat Misinformation During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Abstract

DISPLACEMENT OF STUDENTS from clinical rotations disrupts their education and creates gaps in their knowledge, including about the pathogen responsible for the interruption in their education. 1−3 We have an opportunity to close this gap in medical education and address the general public's

The causes, impacts and countermeasures of COVID-19 “Infodemic”: A systematic review using narrative synthesis

“…For example, The WHO was reported to apply block chain technologies to addressing the surge of misinformation and Launching the EPI-WIN platform for rumor refuting ( Kulkarni et al., 2020 ; Patel et al., 2020 ; Bernards et al., 2020 ). Also, medical professionals from these organizations are encouraged to make more presence on social media platforms to amplify their influence ( Mheidly and Fares, 2020 ; Jindal and Anand, 2020 ; Hauer and Sood, 2020 ; Cuartas-Arias, 2020 ; Ingraham and Tignanelli, 2020 ; O' connor and Murphy, 2020 ; Caulfield, 2020 ; Tomes, 2020 ; O'Connor and Murphy, 2020 ; Quadri et al., 2020 ). Besides, they are encouraged to understand the public health information needs and their information seeking, which was shown in detail in a later section ( Zarocostas, 2020 ; Khan, 2020 ), and extend telemedicine service to alleviate patients' fear of being affected by attending physician's offices ( Boakye et al., 2020 ).…”

Health communication and trust in institutions during the COVID-19 lockdown in China's urban communities

“…Twitter and Facebook are magnifying the negative impact of social media by demonstrating how efficiently misinformation can be distributed ( Depoux et al., 2020 ) and how messaging can intensify the public's emotions ( Rosenberg et al., 2020 ). Digital social media have also been used to combat misinformation ( Brindha et al., 2020 ; Gonçalves-Sá, 2020 ); for instance, government agencies and social service providers, junior medical and health professionals, and concerned citizens using crowdsourcing have taken the initiative to do so ( Quadri et al., 2020 ). On the whole, while having deficits, social media could be an appropriate and useful tool to shape the public's trust in institutions.…”

Who’s Guarding the Gate? The Reach of Prereviewed Emerging Science and Implications for Family Medicine Education

“…As family medicine educators, we need to equip learners with the skills to critically appraise research that may not have been peer reviewed. While steps are being taken to teach medical students about COVID-19 misinformation, 28 and how to combat misinformation, these efforts often focus heavily on responding to media inaccuracies.…”