#Healthcare: Patient and Family Uses and Perceptions of Health Care Social Media

To what extent is oral and maxillofacial surgery educational content posted on Instagram?

Hashtags on Instagram help users globally search for posts to their liking. This study aimed to determine who posts the most popular oral and maxillofacial surgery (OMS) hashtags on Instagram and to evaluate the impact of educational content. The posts were analyzed for the type of post and differences between content creators when posting OMS-related content. This cross-sectional study evaluated OMS content categorized by 36 hashtags. The top 9 posts with each hashtag were evaluated based on the type of content creator, if it was a video or picture, and if it was educational or for marketing purposes. 6 million posts existed among 36 hashtags. Regarding the categories of person/organization posting the content (US or non-US oral and maxillofacial surgeon, residency program, patient, and 'other'), the top posts (N = 295) were posted by 'other' and the least by 'residency program'. Among the posts by non-US oral and maxillofacial surgeons, there was 3.8-fold more marketing content, while among the posts by US oral and maxillofacial surgeons, there was 2-fold more educational content. Educational posts achieved the highest engagement in terms of 'likes'. This study highlights how oral and maxillofacial surgeons can educate the general population and expand their reach.

An Analysis of Pediatric Ophthalmology Content on TikTok

PURPOSE

To assess pediatric ophthalmology-related information on TikTok (ByteDance).

METHODS

The 12 most commonly searched terms from the American Association for Pediatric Ophthalmology and Strabismus website were queried as TikTok hashtags. The top 20 videos for each hashtag were analyzed for views, likes, comments, saves, shares, author status and gender, content, and engagement level ratio (ELR). Subanalysis of the educational videos for quality, understandability and actionability, and medical accuracy using the modified DISCERN (mDISCERN), Patient Education Materials Assessment Tool (PEMAT), and modified Medical Information and Content Index (mMICI) was performed.

RESULTS

Analysis of 222 videos revealed a cumulative 191,337,973 views. Patients/families created the most videos (60.4%), followed by optometrists (14.4%), other (laypeople/unknown) (9.0%), ophthalmologists (7.7%), non-ophthalmology physicians (4.5%), and nurses (4.1%). Content was predominantly patient experience (56.8%), followed by educational (25.2%), humor (11.7%), self-promotional (3.6%), procedures (0.9%), other (0.9%), advertisements (0.5%), and career (0.5%). Educational videos had a lower ELR than humorous (3.3 vs 8.2, P < .001) and patient experience (3.3 vs 5.3, P < .001) videos, but more saves than patient experience videos (74 vs 25, P = .009). The mDISCERN scores were greater for videos authored by ophthalmologists (3, P < .001) and optometrists (2.5, P < .001) compared to lay-people (1.5). Ophthalmologist PEMAT understandability scores were greater than non-ophthalmology providers' (95.5% vs 67.4%, P = .002). There was no difference in PEMAT actionability (P = .743) or mMICI scores among the author subgroups (P = .206).

CONCLUSIONS

Pediatric ophthalmology content on Tik-Tok ranges in quality and understandability. Additional research is needed to help promote posts created by eyecare providers to ensure evidence-based medical content reaches pediatric patients and their families. [J Pediatr Ophthalmol Strabismus. 2024;61(2):90-97.].

Using social media for patient care, research, and professional development: A North American Society of Pediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology, and Nutrition position paper

The advent of social media has changed numerous aspects of modern life, with users developing and maintaining personal and professional relationships, following and sharing breaking news and importantly, searching for and disseminating health information and medical research. In the present paper, we reviewed available literature to outline the potential uses, pitfalls and impacts of social media for providers, scientists and institutions involved in digestive health in the domains of patient care, research and professional development. We recommend that these groups become more active participants on social media platforms to combat misinformation, advocate for patients, and curate and disseminate valuable research and educational materials. We also recommend that societies such as NASPGHAN assist its members in accessing training on effective social media use and the creation and maintenance of public-facing profiles and that academic institutions incorporate substantive social media contributions into academic promotion processes.