The internet has laid to rest the Yellow Pages and snail-mail, alleviated the need for stacks of photo albums and shelves of tomes of encyclopaedia, and it is now available on devices right in your pocket. But are you using it to its full potential to further your career in medicine and healthcare? By Kamelia Kountcheva.
Introduction
N ow that babies are more or less born with a smartphone in their hand and the almost innate desire to update their Twitter feed, social media is an inescapable reality. However, even though in today’s society online networking is as ubiquitous as air, there are still those who find the notion of a cyber realm to participate in a bit outside their comfort zones.
“My personal details out there for everyone to see! People meddling in my business,” the fearful would cry. “It’s all too young for me! Invasion of privacy! Pointless!”
To some, the F-word (that’s Facebook) is a hotspot for snooping, Twitter is a black hole of 140-character snippets of self-obsession, blogging is for those who are only interested in their own opinions and don’t even get us started on Pinterest, Google+ and Flickr. Oh, and we’re not fooled, LinkedIn, we know you’re just Facebook in a suit and tie.
The hub of information
But let’s turn over the coin for a second. Facebook was humming with pictures of missing five-year-old April Jones from Machynlleth, with requests to pass on her parents’ plea for information as far and wide as possible, hours before news coverage had been put together and published or aired. It was the quickest channel to spread April’s picture and launch the tireless search for the little girl.
Twitter was equally on the ball, being the first platform to publish information – sometimes the judge’s words verbatim – from the courtroom during the case that convicted Mark Bridger of April’s murder. The BBC hadn’t even compiled its ‘Breaking News’ bulletin yet. …
Healthcare potential
Healthcare potentialIt can’t be denied that the internet is an incredibly powerful and fast way to reach people and disseminate news. It also has tremendous potential for healthcare and can be invaluable for professionals working in the medical field.
The internet in itself has increased the speed at which new medical papers can be published and made available, as a lot of journals will provide a subscription area, where you can be amongst the first to read the most current research that is being undertaken – and the quickest to have your work published. A lot of big magazines and journals will be fiercely tweeting about new papers the second they are made available, so a Twitter presence is well worthwhile.
Getting informed
But Twitter’s hidden potential does not end there. A quick search can cough up all the mentions of say, bird flu or the recent spike in tuberculosis, which will contain a surprising amount of information.
You will get a good idea of the geography of incidences, you will find out worldwide thoughts and progressions on combating the disease, you will get news coverage bulletins and advice from professional health organisations on various aspects of treating and managing the ailment.
Best of all, it is all neatly packaged within the one search, within the one window, on the one site.
Social media present a great opportunity to network with other medical professionals as well, particularly Twitter, where anyone else is but a click of the ‘follow’ button away.
For more information, news on anaesthesia, updates on Journal of Anaesthesia Practice magazine and more, follow us and like us.
Organisations and companies network
Bodies such as the Royal College of Anaesthetists (RCoA) and the World Health Organisation (WHO) have a Twitter feed and often post updates of new guidelines or give their official advice on treating current arising problems, or respond to news articles.
The @WHO feed, for example, has been tweeting advice on the use of bedaquiline to treat multidrug-resistant tuberculosis since TB’s recent rise in incidence.
Liaising with the people who manufacture the tools and technologies you use is also made all the more simple through venues such as Facebook and Twitter. Many of the companies you will come in contact with will have a group on Facebook you can ‘like’ for regular updates, and a feed on Twitter that you can follow.
These are not only a means to receive informa