With the Covid pandemic, the figure of “influencer” doctor. With experts who have placed themselves directly on social media to interact with the public, to the point of becoming real “opinionists” on health issues, creating, as often happens on these platforms, a large number of followers. And also determining extreme positions.
But what could it be? value of social communication in medicine? Speaking of oncology, therefore of tumors, an answer comes from research conducted in our country. This is the SMARTY study, promoted by the European Institute of Oncology in collaboration with experts from Bocconi University, Ca’ Foscari University and the Oncology Reference Center (CRO) of Aviano, just published in the journal JCO Global Oncology. The analysis shows that for two thirds of Italian medical oncologists, social media represents a powerful tool for scientific communication and interaction with patients.
An original research
The uniqueness of the study is that it offers an overview of the doctor-social media relationship and a methodologically rigorous basis to be able to define a code of conduct in the use of social media in the healthcare sector. It also has a transversal approach to the topic, which also takes into account the point of view of marketing and communications experts. The study team – coordinated by Manuelita Mazza, IEO oncologist, and Mattia Garutti, oncologist at the Aviano CRO, with the supervision of Prof. Giuseppe Curigliano, Director of the IEO New Drugs for Innovative Therapies Division – involved Elena Bellio of the University Ca’ Foscari and Luca Buccoliero of Bocconi University. Luigi O. Molendini, IEO medical examiner, participated in the design of the study, while two IEO specialists actively contributed to the interpretation of the data: Elena Battaiotto and Carmine Valenza.
The research involved 116 medical oncologists (specialists and residents) aged between 26 and 71, at different career levels, of which almost 70% use social platforms for medical communication. The aim of the study was to know the preferences, experiences, opinions and expectations to identify the different profiles of doctors “social media users”.
How doctors are characterized
They emerged three profiles: highly social (31%), skeptical (31%) and moderately social (38%). Specifically, the study highlights that 95% of participants have a personal social network profile, 22% a professional profile and 23% a hybrid profile.
In general the older and more experienced oncologists they spend more time on social media and hold it in greater consideration, while younger people, who are in the initial phase of their career, tend to make personal use of it. This data is in contrast with studies conducted ten years ago, mainly in the United States, on all medical personnel, which showed a opposite trend: younger doctors were the most inclined to use social media also for professional reasons, doctors in full career, between 45 and 55 years old, seemed to avoid using it completely, while those over 55 made greater use of it, but still preferred traditional media .
“The evolution we observe today in the use of social media by doctors could be caused by geographical and temporal differences, but above all by the change in usage models by the “digital-naïve” generation, which has experienced the digital transition on social, compared to digital natives for whom social media is a natural expression of the communicative experience – comments Luca Buccoliero”.
Waiting for patient evaluations
According to Mattia Garutti, “comparing these results with other research conducted on Italian doctors of every discipline, it emerges that the perception of the use of social media does not change substantially. We can therefore say that the majority of doctors consider social media one valid tool to disseminate new knowledge, provide updates without geographical or cost limits, promote a critical approach to the positions of opinion leaders, create new connections, encouraging new collaborations And recruit patients for experimental studies. The risks are certainly perceived, first of all the circulation of incorrect (mis-)information and the possible violation of privacy. However, it is clear that the benefits far outweigh these risks.”
“We are now awaiting the results of the investigation on the same topic from the patients’ point of view – reports Manuelina Mazza. It will be interesting to understand whether the use that doctors make of social media is effective, that is, actually improves the doctor-patient relationship and the patient-disease relationshiptwo fundamental elements in the path of oncological diseases. Communication on social media is now an integral part of everyday life, a window through which information of all kinds flows and experiences intertwine. In this space, the patients’ experience is verbalized and merges with that of the clinicians, creating a unique dialogue. I am deeply interested in exploring patients’ experience on social media, to learn directly from their narratives and refine our communication approaches with these tools, making them more empathetic and effective.” continues Manuelita Mazza.
The research currently underway, focused on people with oncology experience, represents a fundamental tool for advancing knowledge in this area and for laying the foundations of aoncology 2.0, more connected, closer, more aware. In short, more SMARTY.
“The use of social media in oncology opens new perspectives to improve doctor-patient communication, promote patient involvement and create a online community of support and information – says the expert. The future challenge will be to fully exploit the potential of social media, while ensuring the correctness of information, patient privacy and respect for professional ethics.”
It is important to rely on experts
What matters, in any case, is knowing that there really is an expert on the other side of the PC or smartphone. To avoid making mistakes. Or to not justify incorrect behavior. In this sense, the advice is to knowing how to carefully recognize the source of the information that travels on social media. To remind us how important this aspect is is a study that appeared some time ago, which explains how the risk of following fake profiles. Maybe based only on images.
The research was conducted by experts at the University of Sydney and appeared in Vision Research. Based on electroencephalogram findings, Australian experts have managed to understand how people’s brains are able to detect false faces generated through artificial intelligence programs much more effectively than what emerges from their gaze. This is an important fact. According to the study, conducted precisely on what happens in terms of brain signals, the brain would be capable of perceiving over half of the faces and videos are misleadingexactly 54%. Instead, ocular perception alone would stop more or less at just over a third of the identifications of “tarot” profiles, around 37%.