Surgical Tweeting: How does it work, and why does it matter? Neil Floch MD, FACS Director of Bariatric Surgery, Norwalk Hospital Western Connecticut Health Care System Associate Professor University Vermont School of Medicine Associate Professor Quinnipiac University School of Medicine Fairfield County Bariatric and Surgical Specialists, P.C.
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Surgical Tweeting: How does it work, and why does it matter?Neil Floch MD, FACSDirector of Bariatric Surgery, Norwalk HospitalWestern Connecticut Health Care SystemAssociate Professor University Vermont School of MedicineAssociate Professor Quinnipiac University School of MedicineFairfield County Bariatric and Surgical Specialists, P.C.
Disclosures
• No active business relationships• In past paid consultant for: Ethicon,
Allergan/Apollo, Tyco/Covidien/Medtronic• Never purchased Twitter followers• Own 100 shares Twitter stock• Personally tweet @NeilFlochMD since Oct.
2013 – 102,000 followers• Professionally tweet @ASMBS 3 to 13,000
Why Twitter for the surgeon?
• Twitter is less a clinical tool• It is a way to communicate clinical evidence• A real time educational vehicle for the masses• Preach your message or opinion• It is mobile• Unlimited ability to follow anyone• Not weird to follow someone you don’t know• Less time consuming• Can be performed throughout a busy day and night
But we are limited by how many people we can see, talk to and ultimately influence
The Best Social Media Is Face To Face
Social media is the new “WORD OF MOUTH” for patients
• (Picture of a tree)
Is the medical evidence read by doctors and the public?How can surgeons communicate medical evidence better so they are heard?
Unfortunately “EMINENCE OVERULES EVIDENCE”
“EMINENCE OVERULES EVIDENCE”
“RESPONSIBLE” medical evidence authority
We must be MORE effective “INFLUENCERS”
Twitter to support Bariatric Surgery
• Social media is used to fuel politics and social uprisings• Then why can’t physicians use social media to influence
beneficial change?
• There is an obesity stigma• …and a worse bariatric surgery stigma• There is no insurance mandate...• ...yet the medical evidence is overwhelmingly favorable• How can we improve access to care?
Twitter experiment: Three sites
Twitter sites three years later
Patients respect eminence “the doctor” because they don’t always understand or trust evidence
Establish authority and influence
• Maintain honesty and integrity• Uphold HIPAA• Support statements with facts and articles• Defend opinions