This document discusses the opportunities and risks of physicians using social media professionally. It begins by defining social media and providing statistics on its growth and medical professionals' use of platforms like Twitter. The document then explores how physicians, medical institutions, and patients currently use social media for accessing new information, education, collaboration, and more. It also outlines some of the key risks around privacy, professionalism, and information credibility. Overall, the document advocates for physicians to leverage social media wisely while following guidelines to address risks and opportunities it provides for medical knowledge sharing and community building.

1. Social Media for Surgeons
Professional Use of Social Media by
Physicians – Opportunity & Peril
Niraj J. Gusani, MD, MS, FACS
Depts. of Surgery, Medicine & Public Health Sciences
Penn State College of Medicine
Twitter: @NirajGusani
Program for Liver, Pancreas, & Foregut Tumors

2. Disclosures
• None

3. Disclaimers
• Active Professional Twitter profile:
@NirajGusani - >8000 followers
• Executive Cmte: Int’l General Surgery
Journal Club: @IGSJC
• Co-Founder, #PancSM & Co-Host,
#PancChat #PancreaticCancer Twitter
Chats
• Editorial Board: Annals of Surgical
Oncology (Multimedia Section):
@AnnSurgOncol
• Social Media Editor: Journal of
Surgical Research @JSurgRes

4. Overview
• What is Social Media
– Some Statistics
– How does it work? Does it work?
• What do doctors / surgeons / medical
institutions / patients use Social Media for?
• What can physicians / surgeons use SM for?
• Social Media platforms
• What are the risks?
• Why YOU need to be on social media

5. Social media is user generated
content that is shared over the
internet via technologies that
promote engagement, sharing and
collaboration.*
* Definition from The Social Media Guide.com

6. Rapid growth of professionals on Twitter
• Now ~75,000 healthcare professionals online
• 152,000 tweets/day
Creation Pinpoint, http://bit.ly/1hU6Kqd
http://bit.ly/QOJqCy
Slide courtesy of Matt Katz, MD @subatomicdoc

7. Source: Creation Pinpoint, http://bit.ly/QOJqCy
Where are they?
Slide courtesy of Matt Katz, MD @subatomicdoc

8. Who is the e-Patient?
• 87% of US adults
use the internet
• 72% of internet
users looked online
for health
information
Pew Research Center
2014 Health Fact Sheet
www.pewinternet.org
Slide courtesy of Deanna Attai, MD @drattai

9. 61%
Doctor
55%
Hospital
42%
Insurer
27%
Pharma
41%
Doctor
39%
Hospital
34%
Insurer
28%
Pharma
Online, your patients TRUST YOU the most
Likely to trust
online information
from…
Likely to share
online information
from…..
Source: PwC Health Research Institute: Social Media “Likes” healthcare Chart pack

10. SoMe use - Survey

11. SoMe use - Survey

12. Courtesy: Scott Bradbury, AAP - @elearningCME
Slide from @bnowmeh
The path to learning is no longer a straight line…

13. Healthcare Information
How do we keep up?
• SoMe as a tool to disseminate, access, and
evaluate new information
• Direct Education of Patients / Caregivers
• Medical Literature
• Meetings / Conferences
• SoMe as a tool for debate and ongoing
dialogue
• Journal Clubs
• Collaboration / Debate / Dialogue about
Literature, Cases
Carr D. “Doctors use Social for CME.” http://www.informationweek.com/healthcare/leadership/doctors-use-social-for-continuous-medica/240161471

14. Access & Evaluate New Info
• Traditional routes – expensive &
immediately outdated
• Information from SoMe can be
more up to date
• Journals: still essential
• MedEd influenced by the open content trends
– FOAMed – Free / Open Access Medical Education
– "you take all the simple stuff, all the basic
knowledge, and make it free"
Carr D. “Doctors use Social for CME.” http://www.informationweek.com/healthcare/leadership/doctors-use-social-for-continuous-medica/240161471

15. Leveraging the Interest Graph
• SoMe can be used to dynamically be connected
to new information based on following others
with similar interests who are known to link to
content of interest to you (utilizing the “interest
graph”).
Payne P. “Can SM expand the Audience for Medical Research Articles.” http://www.imedicalapps.com/2013/09/social-media-medical-research-
articles/

16. “We observe a
statistically significant
correlation between
social media mentions
and download and
citation count”
Slide courtesy of @bnwomeh

17. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Altmetrics
http://www.jmir.org/article/metrics/3589
Altmetrics:
non-traditional metrics
that include not just
citation counts, but also
other aspects of the
impact of a work – i.e.,
how many data and
knowledge bases refer
to it, article views,
downloads, or mentions
in social media and
news media.

18. Alternative Metrics: Here to Stay
profiles.psu.edugusani

19. Tweeting the Meeting
Great way to capture small bits of info you
learn while at a conference
• Disseminate study findings
• Increase public awareness
• Announce upcoming sessions
• Feedback to speakers
• Connect to wider audience
• Social interaction
Sinclair C. “How to use Twitter at your next medical conference.” http://www.kevinmd.com/blog/2011/09/twitter-medical-conference.html
Donnell RW. “Social media as a CME tool.” http://doctorrw.blogspot.com/2011/02/social-media-as-cme-tool.html

20. Attending from Afar
onsurg.com/social-media-and-surgeons-early-2014/

22. Tool for Debate and Dialogue
• Online Journal Clubs
• #IGSJC
• Twitter Chats / Hashtag based
discussions
• #PancSM, #BCSM
• Case-based discussion forums
• Int’l Hernia Collaborative (on FB)

23. IGSJC
• Asynchronous for 48-72 hours
• Monthly discussion with moderator
• Participation of authors
• Recently published articles
• Article freely available month of journal club
• Unrestricted participation
Modified from slide courtesy of @mzenilman & @lilliankao

24. Effect of #IGSJC on HTML Views
and Downloads
Slide courtesy of @mzenilman

25. N Gusani, E Sommer, L Coker, MH Katz,
D Reidy-Lagunes, PM Bloomston
Twitter: @PancSMChat
#PancSM – Initial Experience
with a Twitter-Based Online
Pancreatic Cancer Chat

26. Background
• Pancreatic Cancer is a highly lethal disease
about which many myths and much nihilism
exists.

27. Need for #PancSM
• Many patients not aware of basic pancreatic cancer facts and
treatment options
• Many desire physician / patient interaction
• SM great educational resource – misconceptions can be
corrected ASAP, patients say helps them talk to their docs
• Provide evidence-based information
• Provide community support
• Provide guidance and general advice (not specific medical
advice!!)
• Dispel myths
Goals for #PancSM
Modified from slide courtesy of @drattai
#PancSM

28. Methods
• We created a monthly Twitter-based 1-hour
chat (#PancSM) to help increase collaboration
and interaction among:
– Patients
– Family/caregivers
– Advocates, charitable organizations
– Health care providers
– Researchers
• Modeled after successful #BCSM & #LCSM
chats & other online communities

29. #PancSM Chat Flyer
Together, we can
innovatively educate
our communities,
provide hope to
cancer survivors
and caregivers, and
support
organizations
fighting to create a
cancer-free world.

30. Int’l Hernia Collaboration

31. How do I use Social Media
(Twitter)?
• Push information, studies, data,
observations
– Mainly oncology and surgical oncology patient
education

32. Brave New World
• Even is on Twitter!

33. Brave New World

34. Risks with Physician Use of
SM
• Patient privacy
• Professionalism
http://33charts.com/2011/12/physicians-risk-opportunity-social-media.html
http://33charts.com/2011/04/facebook-rhode-island-doctor.html
http://www.kevinmd.com/blog/2011/04/doctor-reprimanded-patient-privacy-breached-facebook.html

35. A 12-Word Social Media Policy
• Don’t Lie
• Don’t Pry
• Don’t Cheat
• Can’t Delete
• Don’t Steal
• Don’t Reveal
Dr. Farris Timimi, Medical Director of the Mayo Clinic Center for Social Media
http://socialmedia.mayoclinic.org/2012/04/05/a-twelve-word-social-media-policy/

36. SoMe Guidelines Paper
J Am Coll Surg. 2017 Dec 7. pii: S1072-7515(17)32123-3. doi: 10.1016/j.jamcollsurg.2017.11.022. [Epub ahead of print]

37. SoMe Guidelines Paper
J Am Coll Surg. 2017 Dec 7. pii: S1072-7515(17)32123-3. doi: 10.1016/j.jamcollsurg.2017.11.022. [Epub ahead of print]

38. Don’t believe it?
Whether you know it or not
 Information in the public domain
 Insurer’s databases
 Physician review sites
 Pharmacy databases
 Patient websites
 Social networking sites
Whether you like it or not…
You are Online

39. Google yourself!

40. What is LinkedIn?
• LinkedIn is a professional networking website that allows
users to strengthen and expand their network of contacts
• You set up an online profile
– Experience
– Education
– Accomplishments
– Extras (organizations, activities, reading lists, contacts)
• Connect (link in) to other users and build a network

41. LinkedIn Profile

42. Doximity, Inc.
Doximity – Largest US
Physician Network
• >250K members (35% of US Physicians)
• Your profile allows you to show other
physicians what you do best
• Search the directory using over 30
different criteria including name,
specialty, hospital affiliation, and
medical school
• Used by US News for Physician Search

43. Doximity, Inc.
Doximity Profile

44. SoMe Impact
Twitter/@tomgauld

45. SM is everywhere
http://www.jeffbullas.com/2009/07/28/how-social-media-can-help-organic-seo-2-case-studies/

46. Be sensible!
http://runningahospital.blogspot.com/2011/09/in-case-of-fire.html
http://sharkrobot.com/clearance/incase-of-fire-exit-before-tweeting-clearance

47. Acknowledgements
Thanks for sharing your SoMe knowledge and slides!
Deanna Attai
(@drAttai)
Amalia Cochran
(@AmaliaCochranMD)
Christian Jones
(@jonessurgery)
Ben Nwomeh
(@bnwomeh)
Tom Varghese
(@TomVargheseJr)
Matthew Katz
(@subatomicdoc)

48. Thank you!
Questions?
Email: ngusani@psu.edu
@NirajGusani