#HealthXPh: Use of Twitter in Healthcare

How many Filipinos are on Twitter? PeerReach, a social media analytics firm computed the proportion of people using Twitter per number of people using the Internet in a particular country. This number, the Twitter penetration rate, was 4% for the Philippines. In 2012, the Philippines ranked 10th on Twitter with 9.5 million Filipinos among Twitter’s 517 million users then in a survey by Semiocast.  I wonder how many Filipino healthcare professionals are on Twitter? A ZocDoc survey found that 21% of US physicians reported using Twitter.

The #HealthXPh chat on March 22, 10 am Manila time will discuss the use of Twitter in healthcare. Everyone is welcome to join us, please check time zone differences here.

T1 Why did you join Twitter? Was being a healthcare professional a cause for concern?

I joined Twitter June 2010 as an assignment for my informatics class in graduate school. I wasn’t warned about being careful as Dr. George Lundberg reminds us –

Be super careful, not only in evaluating the Tweets that you receive, but especially the nature of what you Tweet.

Spur of the moment thinking that becomes identified as your Tweet could haunt you for a long time.

Retraction, deletion, or “de-Tweeting” may not be as easy as it seems.

If one is so afraid of tweeting, how about just retweeting then? An interesting study by Ji Young Lee and S. Shyam Sundar found that original tweets by doctors were perceived as credible but not retweets from other doctors.

T2 Has being on Twitter helped you as a healthcare professional or as a patient? If yes, in what ways?

Dr. Anne Marie Cunningham (@amcunningham) enumerates ten reasons for doctors to explore social media in this presentation – Why does a Twittering Doctor Tweet? 10 reasons to have a social media presence. Perhaps, Twitter has helped you in one of the ways she has listed. Brittany Chan shares why she uses Twitter in this post on KevinMD.com – Twitter makes me a better doctor: 4 reasons why I use Twitter:

1. Stay up to date on news and literature.

2. Share ideas and learn from others.

3. Help patients.

4. It’s fun!

T3 Enumerate ways that Twitter is used in your healthcare setting.

Phil Baumann wrote 140 Health Care Uses for Twitter way back in 2009. Which of these are happening where you are? We just might extend this list further!