Participating in scheduled chats hosted on Twitter has been one of the most enriching parts of becoming a citizen of the Twitterverse.
Speaking about your area of expertise and learning from experts in your area of interest has never been more accessible. By following specific hashtags, including #MedEd and #MedTwitter, you can personalize your feed to what piques your interest.
ACR Government Affairs Committee Chair Angus Worthing, MD, FACR, FACP (@AngusWorthing), brings patient advocacy straight to our screens. He efficiently uses the portal to keep us informed of pending legislation and provides us with opportunities to get involved. It is a great way for anyone interested in advocacy to take baby steps forward.
Founder of the #SpoonieChat, Dawn Gibson (@DawnMGibson), is another great person to follow. Spoonie can refer to any individual who suffers from a chronic disease or invisible disability. Ms. Gibson moderates a weekly chat. Reading the spoon theory helped me better understand how difficult chronic disease and pain can be. #Spoonies have inspired me to reflect on my own life and to be choosy with where I spend my spoons. Being there for people who are suffering from similar diseases as my patients has helped me gain perspective.
A Few Rules
I refrain from giving medical advice on social media, but I can answer and provide general information. Patient advocacy and safety are always the priority, and I urge budding rheumatologists to become active participants: We are the future of the field.
With the age of free open access medical education (#FOAMed) comes more responsibility as we disperse information at the click of a button. #SoMeDocs should take a pledge to make sure the information published remains high quality and accurate, because it can have a huge impact on others.
Always use #SoMe with care and caution. Social media platforms are public. Your page can be viewed by your patients, family, boss, co-workers and students. If you choose to maintain a public account, I would recommend reviewing your institution’s policies. Read the American Medical Association’s recommendations and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services checklist for professional social media usage. The Health Insurance and Probability and Accountability Act applies to social media just as much as it applies to any work setting.
If you don’t want your account to be public, make sure you have taken the necessary steps to change your privacy settings.
So to follow or not to follow? You decide.
