Social Media in Graduate Medical Education

Kyle Bradford Jones, MD@kbjones11

Sonja Van Hala, MD, MPH(no Twitter feed…yet)

Dept of Family and Preventive Medicine@uofu_fmres

“Social media in medicine is not about socializing with others. It is as professional a forum as presenting at a national meeting. The difference is that with social media, the audience can consist of millions of people. Public and patient reliance on social media for important information is a fact that physicians can no longer ignore.” 

--Dr. Anas Younes, chief of the Lymphoma Service at Memorial Sloan- Kettering Cancer Center, >11K Twitter followers

Twitter in a Health Care Context

Advertise what you are doing or can offer Engage with specific people/organizations

you’re interested in Particularly with national meetings

Share interesting content you find online Collaborate and Network with others from

around the country Educate patients, fellow providers,

students, the public Learn about anything you want

The Why

Search engine optimization Presence on social media platforms

raises the program near the top of the search when someone searches the topic online

Training residents in social media use Few medical schools or residencies do

this

The Why

S0Me can consume your life if you let it But there are benefits to a few minutes of

use per day

Social Media Myth #1:We don’t have time for this

There are pitfalls and you need to be careful EVERYONE can see what

you post But lack of engagement

can worsen health Waning immunization rates

in part from social media Katie Couric and HPV

Residents need an example/training for appropriate SoMe use

Social Media Myth #2: It’s too dangerous

This is a significant part of our culture and is not going away

Keep a professional barrier Don’t friend patients You are ALWAYS a physician, even on social

media You still are associated with the University

even on a personal account Use it as a forum for more general answers

and avoid individualized medical advice

Social Media Myth #2: It’s too dangerous

Started Facebook page and Twitter feed in early Sep 2013

73 page likes Average of 27 engaged users per week, and A total reach of 200 people per week

U of U Family Medicine Residency

Has allowed for engagement with other programs, faculty, residents, students, and media

Followed by multiple residency directors, many national thought leaders in Family Medicine, national health care journalists, and many in Univ Healthcare leadership

Residency Twitter Feed

Residency Twitter Feed

Family Medicine Vital Signs (fammedvitalsigns.wordpress.com)

Started July 1 Weekly posts about Family Medicine and

current issues by faculty, residents, and students

Viewed 793 times by 610 unique visitors from 10 countries (?!?)

Unofficial, so no branding allowed

Residency Blog

1) Join Twitter personally (if you haven’t already) 2) Follow @uofu_fmres 3) Start easy

Just retweet other posts that you like Find some hashtags that you enjoy

4) Come up with a social media plan for the residency You don’t need to do every platform, but you’re

missing significant opportunities if you don’t have a plan

You don’t need daily posts

Challenge

5) Work with Libby Mitchell and Kathy Wilets in PR for assistance

6) Find a faculty champion and staff assistance We spend a total of about 2 hours per week

between both staff and faculty for this Our goal: minimum 2 posts on Facebook per

week; minimum 5 posts on Twitter per week; min 1 blog post per week

7) Set up a plan for educating residents and faculty in social media use We do a Grand Rounds presentation and are

discussing other venues for training

Challenge

Questions?