Physicians' involvement in social media on dissemination of health information

Abstract

Social media is becoming a source for patients to share and seek health information. Previous research show many patients seek health information on social media either for themselves or to get advice on whether a physician is required to treat certain disease. However, the information available on social media is not entirely accurate and can be dangerous if it has not received a referral from a physician. As such, we propose a visualization tool for profiling of physicians and health information in social media. This tool can be used to oversee and verify dissemination information in social media. Development of this tool requires an initial study of physicians' involvement in social media. The initial study was conducted using an online questionnaire distributed through social networks and personal emails to the staff of the Faculty of Medicine at universities in Malaysia. The results of this study showed that physicians mainly use social media to gain knowledge or information and to increase popularity but not to communicate and discuss with patients.