Are you using social media?

A Manhattan Research survey published in early 2009 reported that 60% of U.S. physicians are either actively using social media networks or are interested in doing so. According to a 2010 Epocrates survey, a majority of healthcare professionals are using social media for personal reasons, like keeping up with friends.

Could there be potential to use it more in a clinical setting? Is it appropriate for clinicians to use social media in their practice?

We talked to two Epocrates users who offer their opinions: Dr. Richard Kramer, Gastroenterologist, Santa Clara Valley Medical Center and Dr. Gregory Gilbert, Emergency Medicine. Dr. Kramer worries about the potential HIPAA violation of using social media for medical purposes. However, Dr. Gilbert finds social media helpful in his role as medical director for a large county and uses blogging to share news and updates of policies and procedures in real time to the public and his paramedics.

We want to know your opinion. What do you think about social media as a medical tool? Is social media a valuable tool to your practice? Tell us on Facebook. Respond to either of the videos above or create your own on YouTube. Tweet your response on Twitter.

Not on the social media train just yet? Tell us via email.

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Geoffrey Rutledge, MD, PhD
CMO, EVP of Product Development, Epocrates

This month, I'd like to describe how physicians are using various social tools to interact with their networks of colleagues. These social tools provide timely answers to clinical questions and can help you expand your referral network.

Physicians have used online communities to communicate with each other since the advent of the Internet. Physicians Online (POL) made a great start in 1994, but was ahead of its time. Now that the majority of physicians have access to online services, there are a number of newer communities that are exclusively available to licensed US physicians. These communities provide a forum for physicians to discuss a wide range of topics, from diagnostic dilemmas to interesting medical cases to debates about the impact of healthcare reform and how to run your practice.  

Posing a question to all the participants on such sites can be an effective way to get answers to difficult clinical or operational questions in your practice. However, one concern that some physicians have expressed is that you usually will not know the background or training of the people who answer your questions. Plus, the feedback and comments may come in over many days after you ask your question.

Ask Your Colleagues
There is another new and interesting way to get an answer to your question that takes advantage of your online social networks. Aardvark is a novel service that sends your question only to your online friends and colleagues who may be interested or able to send you an answer. The service is not inherently limited to physicians or healthcare professionals, so it can send messages to anyone who is in your network.  After signing up, you send a question to the Twitter account @vark and Aardvark selects which of your online connections may be able and willing to send you an answer. The selected people get your question via SMS/Text message (or online messenger service), and because they are your friend or colleague, they are likely to send you a quick answer. Amazingly, the median time to receive an answer via SMS is less than 7 minutes!

Unfortunately, most physicians aren’t yet connected to their colleagues online. However, as a member of the Epocrates community, you are already connected to all of your colleagues who are in active clinical practice and who also use Epocrates.

I would be interested to know if you would find it useful to identify and send messages to your colleagues who are near you. Would it be useful to you to pose clinical questions, or ask for referrals, from your colleagues in a particular specialty who practice within a certain distance of your location?

Send me your thoughts! I’d welcome your comments about whether such a service would be interesting to you – just send an email to talktogeoff@epocrates.com or feel free to call me at (650) 227-2752.

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Dr. R., an internist, asked, "For a patient that has a contraindication to a drug or whose insurance does not cover the drug I want to prescribe, can Epocrates help me find a more appropriate product?"

Epocrates has a number of ways to look for alternate products.  Whether it is because of a contraindication, adverse effect, drug interaction, or because a medication is not on your patient's insurance formulary, Epocrates can quickly get you to other products.

Formulary Alternatives
When you have a formulary activated, you can click in the formulary message at the top of the drug monograph screen to be taken to a list of other drugs in the same class as the current drug, along with their status on the current active formulary.

Browse By Class
From the main drug list, you can browse drugs by class.  This is especially helpful if you need to select an alternate drug from a different drug class, but in the same therapeutic area.  For instance, if your patient had an allergy or contraindication to all ACE inhibitors, you could browse other cardiovascular drug classes for an appropriate alternative, such as an ARB or thiazide diuretic.  (You will also have the benefit of seeing the status of all the drugs in the class on the current formulary here, as well.)

OTC Alternatives
Brand name OTC monographs have a section entitled "Alternatives."  In this section, you will find other products with the same active ingredients, but which may be available in different dosage forms or with different inactive ingredients or flavors more appropriate for your patient.  In addition, related subclasses are listed.  These are useful for when you need a product with one more ingredient to treat an additional symptom or if you need a product without a particular ingredient because of a side effect or drug interaction.  For instance, you may be looking at a combination analgesic/antihistamine/decongestant product.  But, your patient also needs an antitussive.  Or, your patient has uncontrolled hypertension and cannot take a decongestant.  In the Alternatives section, you would find quick links to both analgesic/antihistamine/antitussive/decongestant products and analgesic/antihistamine products.

Disease Treatment
Where appropriate, monographs in Epocrates Diseases (Epocrates Dx) give adjunctive and alternate treatments, in addition to primary options.  These additional treatments may be appropriate for patients who have failed or have a contraindication to primary treatment options, or who have a special form of or comorbid condition with the disease topic.  The format for Epocrates Dx monographs is optimized for quick access to this content and is presented in a clear and concise manner.

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We always love to hear from our members about Epocrates products, or any other topics at youropinion@epocrates.com.

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