The Use of Social Media Platforms by Health Professionals
PART ONE: ESSAY ANALYSIS
Q1. Medical Misinformation is false or inaccurate data or information concerning a patient, i.e., erroneous laboratory data, unreliable historical data from the patient or the family, and transcription errors in recording data, among others. It is also when people, especially those who are not medical professionals, pass inaccurate information about a particular illness based on their little knowledge of the ailment. Medical Misinformation can also be defined as when a medical professional gives false information and diagnosis of a disease to a patient. Misinformation can be due to ignorance where the person does not adequately understand the etiquette of disease disclosure. It can also be due to misinterpretation of the information provided by the patient, which causes the medical professional to give a wrong diagnosis or treatment, probably for an ailment that the patient does not have.
Q2. People have criticized that medics should not use music videos to deliver serious messages about health. I tend to differ with this because from the article, it claims that most medical health workers are using the social media platform TikTok to pass the information on ailments, especially during this coronavirus pandemic. The use of social media platforms to give information is the best means to communicate to the public as most people worldwide are on these platforms. This means that it is easy for them to come across such videos and learn something from it. Also, music is a form of entertainment for most people; thus, I think medics using music videos to pass a message is a genius move as most viewers are most likely to watch the video to the end and learn something from it. Unlike using a whole video where one talks and nothing more, most people are most likely to skip such a video, thus learn nothing from it despite the severe message being delivered.
PART TWO: ESSAY WRITING
The Use of Social Media Platforms by Health Professionals
The debate on whether health professionals should provide health advice and medical information to the public on social media platforms is still a topic of discussion. Some people think that it is inappropriate for medics to use these platforms as it expresses a level of not being serious in their line of work. This is basing because social media platforms are mediocre and considered unprofessional for health workers to use these platforms to deliver serious messages. Some claim that their activities and behavior on these platforms have negatively affected the publics’ views and opinions of the medical profession.
In my opinion, these critics on the matter are unfair as they only view it as being inappropriate. However, the use of social media platforms is the most efficient way to pass information, especially in this era with the current generation. The number of users on these platforms is massive to mean that information provided on these platforms is easily accessible and most likely to be viewed by a lot of people. If this is the case, the use of these platforms by medical health workers to pass information and provide medical advice is not unprofessional at all but rather a genius move.
From the article, Dr. Rose Marie Leslie, a doctor from Minnesota, claims that TikTok videos can be a great way of providing health advice and medical information to teens and young adults. This is because the application, which has recently been ranked as the most used social media platform in 2020, is full of mostly teenagers and young adults who enjoy this platform due to the creativity that comes with it. Therefore, the medical health workers using this platform to pass any medical message know the kind of audience and what they like, thus can give any vital information to the public. There are higher chances that the message will be viewed by millions of people across the world in just hours.
Lastly, the use of social media platforms to provide health advice and medical information is also vital in the sense that most people relate to the data being provided with ease and are also able to ask any questions without fear of being identified. For example, a TikTok user who goes by ‘Mama Doctor Jones’ uses the platform to advise women on the use of contraceptives and exercising during pregnancy, among other topics. Generally, this type of information is essential and rating on the number of viewers of her videos, we can conclude that at the end of the day, somebody somewhere comes out of her page with some vital medical advice and information.
In conclusion, medical health workers should use social media platforms to provide preventive health advice and information to the public. This is because, with the current pandemic, most people spend their time online on these platforms. Thus any medical information passed through them is at a high chance of being viewed by most people and benefit from it.
Reference
Rannard, G. (2020). Unprofessional TikTok Medical Videos ‘Not the Norm’. BBC Trending. Available At https://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-trending-51149991.