Social media expands access to knowledge, collaboration in ‘team sport’ of oncology
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Social media can be a valuable tool to advance oncology research, promote professional development, and encourage connection and communication in the field, according to a speaker at ASCO Annual Meeting.
An education session presentation by Gilberto Lopes, MD, MBA, FASCO, highlighted ways in which social media can be leveraged to advance the practice of oncology.
“Social media gives us more access to knowledge — including medical education, training and resources — and it gives us a lot more networking and collaboration opportunities,” Lopes, chief of the division of medical oncology and medical director for international affairs at Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center, part of the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, said during his presentation. “Unfortunately, it also comes with caveats. It does have challenges, and we must be very cognizant of them.”
Oncology is ‘a team sport’
Lopes cited a definition of social media attributed to Don S. Dizon, MD, describing it as “a number of online and mobile resources that provide a forum for the generation, sharing and discussion of individualized ideas and content.”
“Social media is any platform that we use by electronic means, and it comprises a number of aligned and mobile resources that provide a forum,” Lopes said. “We’re putting content out there, hoping to find people who think like us, have the same interests and hope to conquer cancer.”
As of 2015, 72% of oncologists used these platforms, Lopes said. Usage rates were higher among fellows (93%), trainees (89%) and early-career oncologists (72%) than late-career oncologists (59%) or mid-career clinicians (39%).
X — formerly Twitter —remains the “workhorse” of social media in oncology, Lopes said.
Lopes discussed the ways in which oncology providers can harness the power of social media to disseminate knowledge and find community.
He noted the value of online journal clubs, specifically citing the HO Journal Club, which is the first digital hematology/oncology journal club for fellows and trainees. This ASCO initiative launched in 2020 and had more than 1,000 followers during that year, half of whom were fellows.
“It’s a great way for us to learn to engage with each other,” Lopes said.
Social media also is helpful for facilitating multistakeholder discussions in oncology, Lopes said. Through these platforms, clinicians can connect with patient groups, clinical trialists, pharmacists, nurses, rare disease specialists, and other individuals and groups with a shared interest in cancer care.
“We used to be in our echo chambers. We had people we saw in our clinics and hospitals, or in our medical schools,” he said. “We didn’t have this reach that we have now.”
Social media facilitates the formation of oncology communities, both for patients and providers, Lopes said. He used the example of virtual molecular tumor boards, which expand clinician access to emerging genetic mutation data and education.
“We have thousands, if not millions, of mutations and changes that we don’t necessarily understand, especially when we’re first starting to learn about them,” he said. “These virtual tumor boards help people at smaller institutions who might not have access to the information they need.”
The ability to disseminate information from major oncology meetings also has grown exponentially, Lopes said.
“That has been transformational,” he said. “We now get literally hundreds of millions of impressions. We now have a reach we could not have even dreamed about just a few years ago.”
Mentorship is another aspect of oncology care that received a boost from social media. Online platforms can be useful for sharing professional frustrations and gaining support from colleagues.
“Oncology is a team sport — we don’t go anywhere of note alone,” he said. “We need to keep creating our community of care that will hopefully one day conquer cancer.”
Advancing research, mobilizing action
One of the most substantial ways in which social media has benefited oncology is through advancing research.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, several oncologists connected via social media to discuss the need for data about cancer and COVID.
A tweet from Aakash Desai, MD, MPH, drew interest from several clinicians and led to the creation of the COVID-19 and Cancer Consortium.
“Within a day or 2, we organized the steering committee representing a number of institutions across the country, in Canada and one country in Europe,” Lopes said. “Within 4 weeks, we got more than 1,000 cases representing every region in the U.S., Canada and Spain. Within a few more weeks, we actually had a late-breaking abstract at ASCO. This has become a concrete research example. We never could have done that without Twitter.”
Social media also can benefit research efforts by helping oncologists connect patients to appropriate clinical trials. Additionally, it can be used to enroll patients in studies.
Lopes mentioned a study called Tweet 2Quit, which provided participants with 56 days of nicotine patches, emails with links to smokefree.gov — an NIH website with smoking cessation information and resources — and instructions to set a quit date. The intervention doubled the rate of sustained abstinence from 20% to 40%.
“We can actually use social media as a tool to provide interventions,” Lopes said.
Using caution and professionalism
Despite its numerous advantages in terms of communication and reach, Lopes emphasized the need to maintain professionalism on social media.
“When we communicate, we have to remember that we often might be communicating with patients,” Lopes told Healio. “We have to behave in the same way we would during a visit with a patient or with a group we’re teaching at our institutions. We should be clear and we should be compassionate.”
Lopes emphasized the need for privacy, confidentiality, accuracy and transparency in terms of conflicts of interest. He cautioned against too much blurring of one’s personal and professional lives on social media.
“There are also legal and institutional issues,” he said. “It’s helpful to know what your institution’s rules are for social media so you don’t get yourself into trouble.”
For oncologists looking to use social media to engage with colleagues and keep up with professional matters, Lopes recommended they simply “get on there and start using it.”
“The way you find your communities is by using your hashtags and by following people in those communities,” he said. “For instance, you can use the hashtag #LCSM — lung cancer social media — to find tweets on lung cancer.”
Within the bounds of professional ethics and appropriateness, Lopes advised clinicians to simply be as authentic as possible on social media.
“The most important message is that you should be yourself,” he told Healio. “That’s how you will create your persona on social media.”
Reference:
- Lopes G. Harnessing the power of social media: Elevating global oncology practice, research and education. Presented at: ASCO Annual Meeting; May 31-June 4, 2024; Chicago.
For more information:
Gilberto Lopes, MD, can be reached at glopes@med.miami.edu.
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