March 2012 overview of social media use by Canadian physicians.

1. Canadian physicians and social
media: A prognosis
BC Patient Safety and Quality Council
March 7, 2012
Pat Rich – Director, CMA Online Content

2. The agenda
1. Introduction
2. What we know (and don’t know) about Canadian
doctors and their use of social media
3. Why your family doctor is probably not using SM
4. Why a doctor should consider SM
5. Physician champions
6. What medical associations are doing
7. Other resources

3. Introduction

4. What we know about MDs and SM
 Limited good data on physicians and social media
use for professional purposes (even less for
Canadian MDs)
 What we do know:
 Physicians mirror rest of society in use of social
media for personal reasons
 Use of social media by physicians professionally
is increasing

5. What we know about MDs and SM II
 Hot off Twitter: Randomized sample of 307 US
physicians conducted in summer of 2011 by
Deloitte Center for Health Solutions
 6% report using social networks to
communicate with patients

6. What we know about MDs and SM III
Canadian Medical Association ePanel Survey
2010
 647 respondents (20% response rate)
nonrandomized volunteers
 80% believed SM poses legal and professional
risks
 Use of social media professionally - Facebook –
1%, Twitter – 11%, Other social networking sites –
22%, Blog – 19%

7. Epanel comments
“Given the weight of privacy issues, using social
media in a physician-patient relationship is a
dangerous trap, best to be avoided.”
vs.
“Social media is very important for us and should be
harnessed. I greatly welcome this for patient-
patient and physician-physician interaction.”

8. Why your doctor is probably not
using SM
 Time
 Money
 Regulatory environment
 Privacy/security concerns
 Boundary issues
 Lack of knowledge about technology
 Lack of proven clinical benefit

9. Why your doctor is probably not
using SM II
 Regulatory environment
 College of Physicians and Surgeons of BC - 2010
 Excellent, detailed document, setting down exactly what
risks physicians face by using social media
 Language does not encourage SM use
* “exercise caution …”
* “proceed carefully …”
* exercise restraint …”

10. Why your doctor is probably not
using SM III
The Council has recently become aware that some
physicians have posted information on Facebook
… such that specific patients have been
inadvertently identified…Council does not believe
there is ever a need, or a point, to posting any
information regarding a physician’s professional or
clinical activity in such a fashion, considering the
many risks and no discernable benefits.
College of Physicians and Surgeons of New Brunswick

11. Why your doctor is probably not
using SM IV
Canadian Medical Protective Association – June 2010
We’d rather you didn’t but if you do …
“While physicians are aware that disclosing patient
information in public spaces such as hallways and
elevators may breach their duty to protect patient
confidentiality and privacy, they may not realize
similar discussions on social networking or
professional websites can also constitute a breach.”

12. Why your doctor is probably not
using SM - V
 They have no time in busy practice dominated by
individual patient care
 They don’t get paid to do it
 They don’t understand the technology and what
they have heard about Facebook or Twitter doesn’t
encourage them
 They don’t see how SM could be used to improve
the care they deliver

13. Why a doctor should consider SM
 To communicate more effectively with groups of
patients or the public
 To stay better informed and up-to-date about
medical or health developments
 To exchange information with peers on a secure
network
 To monitor public health trends
 To conduct medical research

14. Why a doctor should consider SM II
 New and effective ways to communicate with and
engage patients
 Write a blog to update people on useful
health information
 Correct erroneous information online
 Post videos on YouTubes informing or
educating patients about medical procedures
 Start a Twitter account to tweet from medical
conferences
 Moderate a patient community discussion

15. “…as a profession we are just
coming to understand how
these social media can help us
interact and communicate
better to engage in
conversations about health or
to more effectively deliver
messages about better health
…Don’t expect your doctor to
be your “friend” on Facebook
but don’t be surprised as you
see more and more doctors
using these social media tools
in ways that can help make
everybody’s health better.”
Dr. John Haggie, CMA President

16. Physician academic perspective
“It is an important challenge for us as researchers and
health system leaders to work with the public to find
ways to use the social media to achieve the ideal
state … where important decisions are based upon
a combination of evidence of needs and impacts;
costs and affordability; and fairness and justice.”
Andreas Laupacis
Notes for the Justice Emmett Hall Lecture
Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada
May 11, 2011

17. Physician champions I
Dr. Allan Brookstone

18. Physician champions II
Dr. Brian Goldman

19. Physician champions III
Dr. Mike Evans

20. Physician champions V
Dr. Anne Marie Cunningham (@amcunningham)

21. Physician champions VI
Dr. Wendy Swanson
Seattle, WA-based pediatrician and blogger who is
paid to write about issues of children’s health

22. Epatient champions
Dave deBronkart
@epatientdave
Founding member of
the Society for
Participatory
Medicine

23. Epatient champions
Regina Halliday (@reginahalliday)

24. Medical Associations
 Generally more proactive than individual MDs in
use of social media to engage their members and
communicate with members and the public
 British Columbia Medical Association a pioneer in
its use of Facebook about 3 years ago
“[As] with any social media campaign, when you want to get
people talking, we started the conversation with a question:
do you think addiction is a disease or a human failing?”
Sharon Shore, BCMA Communications and Public
Affairs Officer

25. Medical Associations II
Canadian Medical Association
Launched social networking site for physicians
(Asklepios) in 2008
First Twitter feed in 2009 (@cmaer)
Twitter # with annual meeting starting in 2009
Public engagement campaign
www.healthcaretransformation.ca 2011
Developed SM guidelines for members 2011

26. Tips from an icon
“Don’t be banal, self promote excessively,
share confidential material (especially about
patients), be a troll, break the law, commit a
libel, or overdo it.”
 Dr. Richard Smith, BMJ, March 1, 2012

27. Other Resources
 KevinMD.com
 Foremost blog posting site for informative views on
physicians and use of social media
 #hcsmca
 Foremost Canadian Twitter stream for posting of issues
relating to social media in health care. Weekly Tweetup at
1 pm (EST) on Wednesdays

28. Other resources

29. The prognosis
 Canadian physician use of various social media will
increase
 Social media will transform physician-patient
interactions in some situations
 Social media will strengthen the ePatient
movement
 Social media will lead to a re-evaluation of the
ethics and professionalism surrounding boundary
issues for physicians