Instacash: The Ethics of Leveraging Medical Student Status on Social Media

Abstract

Some medical students leverage their medical student status for profit as social media influencers on platforms such as Instagram. Depending on the size of their following and the brand they are promoting, students can make thousands of dollars per year by advertising products ranging from scrubs to protein powder to Please see the end of this article for information about the authors.

Investigating COVID-19 Vaccine Communication and Misinformation on TikTok: Cross-sectional Study

“…The small percentage of HCP-created popular TikToks suggests that HCPs can further use this platform to disseminate accurate medical information to a broad audience. However, with the advent of the medical influencer [ 1 ], it must be ensured that information provided by HCPs is correct and not biased by financial incentives. Although many current medical students have used social media for both their personal and professional lives, many have not received formalized social media training on how to disseminate information correctly beyond maintaining a professional image.…”

“…Social media has become a prominent vehicle for educating both learners and the public. Learners and young physicians are increasingly savvy with these technologies [ 1 , 2 ], engaging as influencers and gaining outsized influence over young people [ 3 ].…”

“…To close the gap between public perceptions and the science behind vaccines, there is certainly an avenue for engaging learners and providing them with tools to engage with the public more robustly [ 21 ]. Instead of engaging in financial gain via social media stardom [ 1 ], increased efforts to formalize social media use and communication skills and incorporate them into medical school curricula may be of great benefit to our communities. However, to do so, it is imperative that we have a firm handle on what the current state of web-based communications are for physicians and other HCPs on platforms like TikTok.…”

In Reply to Mukadam et al

“…To the Editor: We were intrigued by Dugdale and Braswell's article 1 about medical students leveraging their medical student status on social media. As medical students at King's College London, we provide below a United Kingdom perspective on this issue.…”

In Reply to Kandola and Minhas

“…We commend the exemplary courage displayed by Veal in openly sharing their personal experiences and reflections and agree medical school culture needs to change. 1 We recommend incorporating mental health awareness education into the medical curricula.…”