Social media is an extension of environment, culture of a practice
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Social media allows people to share, inform and highlight information. Social media platforms have unique “personalities” and goals, and participation in social media is a daily activity for most people.
Social media influences decisions in all sectors of life, including health care. The ability to acquire and afford health care is a top financial concern for many Americans. In the competitive orthopedic market, the lack of a social media presence could inhibit the ability of a practice to attract a patient population that self-directs their care.
Personalized interactions
All age groups use social media to better understand the personality, interests and expertise of surgeons whom they may decide to trust enough to perform a surgical procedure. The information patients find about their surgeons has an impact on patients’ level of trust, expectations and surgical outcomes.
Social media also has a profound effect on the ability to communicate, develop new relationships while enhancing established relationships, provide access to valuable information and enhance patients’ trust in the shared decision-making process. Along the same lines, orthopedic surgeons should develop websites that provide information about their training, board certification, areas of expertise, unique skills, subspecializations and a repository of evidence-based information to help educate and guide patient decisions.
Surgeons should not forget that their websites are also social media, which means patients and other interested parties prefer a website that creates a comfortable conversation with the audience. To personalize the interaction, surgeons should consider adding a blog, frequently respond to online comments and provide useful information in response to comments.
Key issues in orthopedics
Active involvement on social media can create engagement on key issues in orthopedics. Due to the perception that Twitter provides the ability to advance the core values of inclusion, leadership, innovation and mentorship, as proposed by the Association of Academic Surgery, Logghe and colleagues labeled Twitter as “an essential tool” for surgeons in pursuit of these core values in their practice.
Other areas that foster valuable social interaction include posting and commenting on new research, ground-breaking innovations or providing the inspiring patient or health care worker stories on LinkedIn, which has many professional users from health care and beyond. This can become an additional source of referrals, as well as reputation growth and branding.
Involvement in social media can create concerns for employers, as well as the leadership of private practice groups. The most significant concern is a violation of HIPAA. Penalties for violating HIPAA are significant, and employers have processes in place to provide critical information and education about how to follow HIPPA guidelines. When posting patient information online, there should be a well-documented consent form signed by the patient that explicitly informs the patient that the information, as well as any pictures and video, could be used in a public format, such as social media.
Employers may prefer to restrict or prohibit the use of social media by employees due to the concerns that inappropriate comments that may affect the reputation of the business. However, the National Labor Relations Act, Section 7, protects an employee from the employer strictly banning the use of social media. Specific interests can be legitimately protected regarding proprietary and confidential information. If there is not a clearly defined social media relationship between a surgeon and employer, then the most appropriate method is to develop a website and social media presence that does not suggest representation of the institution and states that all comments and opinions are the sole ownership and responsibility of the surgeon.
Extension of a practice
The use of social media platforms has rapidly increased among patients and physicians. Many patients now use social media to identify health care providers. Despite the creation of narrow referral networks, patients are willing to go out-of-network for care if they identify a physician who has special skills for their health problem, especially if it requires elective surgery.
Social media provides the opportunity to inform patients about the practice and expertise, essentially establishing an extension of the overall environment and culture of a practice. Surgeons should work toward a strong presence on various social media platforms if they want a personal ability to impact patient referrals, practice reputation, patient education, and to be able to participate in the thought leadership in their area of expertise.
- References:
- Logghe HJ, et al. J Surg Res. 2018;doi:10.1016/j.jss.2018.03.049.
- Samora JB, et al. J Hand Surg Am. 2016;doi:10.1016/j.jhsa.2015.05.034.
- Surani Z, et al. BMC Res Notes. 2017;doi:10.1186/s13104-017-2993-y.
- For more information:
- Anthony A. Romeo, MD, is the Chief Medical Editor of Orthopedics Today. He can be reached at Orthopedics Today, 6900 Grove Road, Thorofare, NJ 08086; email: orthopedics@healio.com.
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