For those doctors who assume Twitter isn't for them, this blog entry from a physician-in-training may be of interest. In it, Texas medical student Brittany Chan breaks down how she uses the social-media tool and describes how it has enriched her life and made her more knowledgeable and confident:
As a medical student and future pediatrician, I follow accounts of official medical associations, such as the AAP (@AmerAcadPeds) and AAMC (@AAMCToday), leading medical journals, including JAMA (@JAMA_current) and The Lancet (@TheLancet), as well as several different kinds of physicians who frequently tweet interesting new articles.
I first learned about last year’s pertussis epidemic in Seattle on Twitter, and have followed tweets about this year’s flu throughout flu season. I frequently stumble upon studies that may help me in practice; last week I learned that cefdinir and iron-supplemented infant formulas may cause non-bloody red stool when taken together...
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I follow people who tweet about things that interest me, both medically related and not. As a medical student, I’ve used Twitter as a study tool, asking questions and gleaning knowledge from physicians, residents, and other students. I listen and converse in various tweet chats, such as the mobile health (#mhealth), healthcare social media (#hcsm), and medical education (#meded) chats. I hear patients share their stories and follow blogs.
Previously: How can physicians manage their online persona? KevinMD offers guidance, 33Charts’ Bryan Vartabedian talks about physician blogging, Using social media to fight cholera, A guide to the social web for physicians and Physician 2.0: Do doctors risk becoming irrelevant if they ignore social media?
Via @wingofzock
