SANTA MONICA, CALIF. – Social media provides a way for physicians to engage with their patients and the community, whether the physician practices in an HMO or privately, according to Dr. Jeffrey Benabio, a dermatologist at Kaiser Permanente in San Diego.
Moreover, physicians in private practice could find social media useful in building their practices, Dr. Benabio said at a meeting sponsored by Skin Disease Education Foundation and the University of Louisville.
Dr. Jeffrey Benabio
No matter what the specialty, the principles of using social media such as blogs, Facebook, Twitter, and Web sites as tools for improving patient care will apply.
"Online patient communities are an ascendant means for patients to learn about their disease, and seek advice and comfort from [other] patients like them. Physicians can be part of this conversation and contribute to it. Who better to [advise] patients [on] how to live with pain, live with deformity, deal with insurance companies, than physicians?" noted Dr. Benabio in an interview.
It takes no money but lots of time to build online networks. So why bother to do it? Dr. Benabio offered several reasons.
"Patients are going online to interact with their physicians, and we are not there.
"Physicians are losing [their] status as the sole source of medical knowledge. Whereas patients always had to come to us to learn about disease and health, now they get most of their information online. Our absence online perpetuates a trend of diminishing importance of our profession. Patients are online; physicians need to be where they are, he said.
As with much in life, the secret to being effective online comes down to showing up.
"A physician becomes a trusted member of the community by being present. Over time, regular blog posts, Facebook updates, and Tweets allow the audience to become familiar with the physician. To know that he or she is there, is listening, is part of the community.
"Physicians should blog and have Facebook pages. They should post things that are helpful and informative for their audience. They can report news, but it must be within the law. Physicians can talk about drugs and about non-FDA–approved uses of drugs as long as they are not giving actual medical advice, and are clear about any disclosures and disclaimers," Dr. Benabio said.
They should Google themselves and see what they find – though they might not like it. The only content you can control is the content you create, he asserted.
Google has 400 million queries daily and 75%-80% of adults have sought medical information on line. The nature of information on the Internet is collaborative, and physicians need to be part of that. Otherwise, the public might be offered information that is inaccurate and biased, he said.
"It is as important to be a trusted member of the online community as it is to be a trusted member of your actual community," Dr. Benabio said. Starting a blog and making it part of your practice's Web site will have the additional benefit of marketing the practice at the same time you are offering the public a reliable perspective on medical developments within your specialty.
Those who are interested in marketing their practices should remember that using social media is free but time consuming. But getting your name out online, making sure it is associated with reliable information, and being available as a caring, informed physician are all effective marketing strategies that are literally at your fingertips in the form of social media tools. Some would say this is becoming the first choice in marketing, and that traditional marketing is dying.
Dr. Benabio warned that others will usurp their role as providers of health information unless physicians get online to counter that trend. Certainly alternative health providers are on social media, building relationships with patients, and boosting their status among patients. Just as a patient who has no access to a dermatologist will see a nurse or naturopath, patients online seek information from nonphysicians, he noted.
Physicians are on a slippery slope in this age of the Internet information highway. "This is a critical time when we are trying to demonstrate our value as practitioners," he said. "The more comfortable people are with nonphysicians, the more difficult it will be for us to fight nonphysicians' expansion of their scope of practice."
SDEF and this news organization are owned by Elsevier. Dr. Benabio disclosed that he is a consultant for Livestrong.com and a full-time employee of the Southern California Permanente Medical Group.