Just What the Doctor Tweeted: Physicians’ Challenges and Rewards of Using Twitter

Abstract

More than 75,000 health care professionals worldwide share information and discuss treatments on Twitter, making it one of the most popular and influential social media sites for health. This engaging medium has enormous potential for establishing relationships and disseminating information among physicians, their colleagues, and patients. However, little is known about how physicians navigate Twitter and what challenges and benefits come from using the platform. By conducting in-depth interviews with 17 physicians who interact with Twitter at least once per week, it was revealed that physicians overcome concerns of privacy and time constraints to learn and share new research, connect with colleagues, manage online personas, and develop relationships with patients on a new level that goes beyond the typical office visit. Implications include the possibility of enriched patient-provider relationships due to physicians divulging opinions and personal information in a public forum to minimize established power structures and enable better communication. This exploratory study establishes that Twitter is fertile ground for future research to explore how the medium can influence patient behavior, alter attitudes, and influence communication between patients and providers.

The unbearable emptiness of tweeting—About journal articles

“…So it was not surprising to find doctors exhorting other doctors to join Twitter [3]. While voicing concerns with maintaining privacy and professionalism on social media, proponents described largely idyllic scenarios emphasizing Twitter’s potential for aiding career development [4], connecting with colleagues, building relationships with patients [5], enabling virtual journal clubs and scientific conferences [6], complementing traditional teaching methods [7,8], critically appraising and reviewing research [9], or all of the above [6]. Some have argued that Twitter promised to speed knowledge transfer and bridge the communication gap between researchers and stakeholders [10] leading others to suggest strategies and tips to improve the dissemination of research findings [11], and to engage readers to follow journals’ Twitter accounts [12].…”

Let's Talk Period! Preliminary results of an online bleeding awareness knowledge translation project and bleeding assessment tool promoted on social media

“…Social media is an emerging area of knowledge translation between physician and patients. Credible medical knowledge can be imparted via physician presence on social media sites, and the use of social media strategies can enhance recruitment of participants for clinical trials . In comparison with traditional clinical trial recruitment strategies, the use of online recruitment strategies including social media such as Facebook and Twitter has shown to result in overall faster recruitment rates and more study participants …”

“…Credible medical knowledge can be imparted via physician presence on social media sites, and the use of social media strategies can enhance recruitment of participants for clinical trials. 14,15 In comparison with traditional clinical trial recruitment strategies, the use of online recruitment strategies including social media such as Facebook and Twitter has shown to result in overall faster recruitment rates and more study participants. 16,17 Our first objective was to increase awareness of undiagnosed bleeding disorders through the use of an informational website (http://letstalkperiod.ca) promoted on social media (eg Twitter and Facebook) targeted at women in their reproductive years.…”

Mental health nurses’ use of Twitter for professional purposes during conference participation using #acmhn2016

“…). Several studies have demonstrated the widespread use of Twitter among health‐care professionals for the purposes of sharing research news and connecting with colleagues (Alpert & Womble ; Kung & Oh ; Lulic & Kovic ; Wilson et al . ).…”

“…Twitter is used by 24% of all Internet users, and is especially popular among highly-educated individuals (Greenwood et al 2016). Several studies have demonstrated the widespread use of Twitter among healthcare professionals for the purposes of sharing research news and connecting with colleagues (Alpert & Womble 2016;Kung & Oh 2014;Lulic & Kovic 2012;Wilson et al 2014). Twitter is further used by scholars to gain public engagement, to enhance professional networking, and to discuss their research with non-government organizations and journalists (Bik & Goldstein 2013;Darling et al 2013).…”