“Twitterology”: A new age of medicine and social media colliding

Social

media, defined as Internet-based applications that allow for the creation and exchange of user-generated content, have changed how people engage with one another. From connecting with others through social networking sites such as Facebook or LinkedIn, to sharing images on Instagram or sharing ideas via Twitter, YouTube, wikis, podcasting or a host of other social media tools, the use of social media in society has exploded over the last decade.

In medicine, connecting, collaborating, and communicating with other health care professionals and with patients is key. Yet, physicians have generally been slow to adopt technological advances to practice. Often this is due to perceived legal or professional consequences or general fear surrounding the use of technology. Interestingly, many physicians do not realize that even as nonusers, they often already have a digital shadow and so participating and understanding newer technologies can often result in greater control over content and enhance professional safeguards.

Many guidelines exist to help physicians understand the appropriate use of social media and internet based technologies including policies from the College of Physician and Surgeons of Ontario,¹ Canadian Medical Association,² Canadian Medical Protective Association³ as well as local University and Hospital based guidelines. It is crucial that all healthcare workers are aware and review the guidelines and policies that pertain to their field especially as health care and technology continue to evolve together. Working within these guidelines, the potential for social media to enhance patient care and inter-professional communication is limitless.

Physicians can use social media in three broad ways: 1) to share information across disciplines and learn from others, 2) for health advocacy, and 3) to enhance patient care. With this in mind many physicians have started to use social media technologies to disseminate knowledge, enhance discussion, and foster the growth of communities for specific health domains. This includes the creation of blogs, podcasts, YouTube videos, white boards, online journal clubs, and conference hash tags to name a few. Many of these applications are moving from a unidirectional or even bi-directional flow of information sharing to multidirectional communication.

Twitter, an online microblogging site, where discussions are followed by a hashtag (synonymous to a keyword search in medicine) is easily applicable to the interface of medicine and social media, aka “Twitterology.” It allows users to post content with a 140-character restriction, including text, multimedia (e.g., photos, videos) as well as hyperlinks to websites.

The online Twitter based Respirology journal club housed out of University of Toronto's Department of Respirology (@respandsleepjc, #rsjc) harnessed this opportunity to enhance CME by creating a monthly online Royal College accredited (S1 credits)Twitter based journal club. The @respandsleepjc runs a monthly Twitter journal club that coincides with the live Respirology journal club for its trainees. The lead and or corresponding author(s) of the papers to be reviewed are contacted ahead of time to encourage and facilitate their participation through options such as access to a guest account, and for those who are new to using Twitter, a user guide on the basics of how to use Twitter is provided. All discussions are followed by a #rsjc. The @respandsleepjc discussion is summarized online in the days following the journal club and often a letter summarizing the discussion is created and can be considered for publication, changing the face of post publication discussion.

Twitter is helping to redefine traditional conceptions of a medical journal club, where individuals meet regularly at a set time and place to learn and appraise literature in their field, into a greater virtual “gathering” of individuals from various disciplines, geographic locations, training levels, and expertise. This serves to accomplish some of the same goals as the traditional counterpart but also further promotes collaboration, fosters communication, promotes health advocacy and potentially expands knowledge to a greater level especially in the case when one of the lead authors joins to answer questions that may not otherwise be published or known to the general reader.

Twitter is an ideal platform for a virtual journal club as anonymity can be maintained because discussions are followed by a hashtag rather than the identifier of a particular person or group. As well, the character limitations ensure brevity and clarity of topics discussed. Users can use Twitter anywhere making it easily accessible and it also lends itself to greater dissemination of learned information. Finally, online Twitter based journal clubs can also be studied using its analytics.

The @respandsleepjc is a part of the growing community of online Twitter journal clubs that represent safe, easy to use, dynamic forms of CME. Moving forward each issue of the Canadian Journal of Respiratory, Critical Care and Sleep Medicine (@cjrccsm #CTSJ) will be featuring some of these online discussions as a journal club feature to highlight work from some of our newest CTS members and to disseminate discussions especially to those members who are not yet online and encourage more participation. Medicine in an ever changing field and in the era of technology we must embrace social media and adapt with it. Join now: what are you waiting for? All you need is a name and email address to register at www.twitter.com.