There are thousands of physicians, medical students and other health care professionals on Twitter, but many individuals are afraid to join Twitter because of the unknowns and potential pitfalls. Here are 5 reasons medical professionals are apprehensive about utilizing Twitter and why you should join anyway.
1. You’re nervous you’ll post something stupid.
This one is easy. Don’t post anything you don’t want the whole world to see. Twitter is a public forum and anything you post is public, searchable, and re-tweetable. Yes, you can delete a post, but it may be too late. For example, someone could have already taken a screenshot of the tweet, or have the tweet text saved in their email notifications. But this shouldn’t scare you. Before posting things on Twitter, you first have to join and see how other people use Twitter. Once you have a feel for it, go ahead and post. You can start off by posting general information, and once you are comfortable with this medium you can start conversing with others and giving opinions. And yes, always think twice before you post anything.
2. You’re not sure if your account should be 100% related to healthcare.
You don’t have to decide this right away. Most health care professionals on Twitter don’t exclusively post about healthcare. Interesting things in the news, politics, and world events may catch your attention and you may opt to share this with your followers. That’s great! Twitter is a way for you to express yourself and get to know others along the way. It’s is your choice how to express yourself. If someone doesn’t want to follow you, they don’t have to.
3. You’re worried about HIPAA.
Yes, it’s inappropriate to EVER discuss patient information on Twitter. Don’t do it, ever! It’s actually pretty easy to avoid this problem. Whether or not your post are exclusively pertinent to medicine, your Twitter account should always be strictly professional, because you are a physician. Think about it- would you discuss your recent patient with someone you met on the subway? You wouldn’t discuss a patient with anyone outside the hospital, even in the abstract sense (i.e. “I met a patient today who had a really interesting life”). So don’t post it on Twitter, either.
4. You’re concerned you don’t have time.
Check your Twitter feed when you’re waiting for your coffee and when you’re on the elevator. The Twitter app is great and really easy to use. You can devote as much or as little time as you want. But, you’ll never know the benefits of Twitter until you try it out. The opportunities for networking are endless. Twitter keeps you on your toes, too, because the experts you’ll follow tweet about the important advances in medicine- both in your field and other specialties. Twitter also helps you understand the culture of medicine, because you’ll be the first to read the interesting mainstream media medical articles. And you’ll learn first-hand how some patients think about healthcare, because they’re on Twitter, too.
5. You’re worried about job applications.
We’ve all heard the scary stories about that medical student who didn’t match because the program director saw the drunken photos on his Facebook account. So you may be thinking that increasing your online presence prior to job applications may not be a great idea, because you can’t hide Twitter. But as I mentioned earlier, your Twitter account should be strictly professional. It should show your personality, values, and knowledge. This engagement is exactly what being a physician is all about. In this way, Twitter is another tool in your doctor’s bag. So, your future employer will value it, too. So go ahead- join Twitter! Go follow the experts, engage in tweet chats, and tweet, tweet, tweet. Your patients and followers will thank you.
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Dr. Miriam “Mimi” Knoll is a PGY-5 radiation oncology resident at Mount Sinai. You can follow her on Twitter @MKnoll_MD