Discussion on Social Media and Patient Engagement at ASCO

Jun 5, 2012

Author: Sara Rauhullah

A US research indicates that 33% of Oncologists are Non-adopters of Social media and this specialty group is found to be more skeptical of this communication channel than Family Practitioners therefore, sessions were organized at ASCO on the use of Social media and patient engagement.

With respect to the use of social media, physicians were asked to weigh a number of considerations while maintaining a presence online. They were encouraged to use the social media, for “Teaching” – Engaging with patients and sharing credible information, “Treating” – Addressing any treatment related questions however with a lot of caution and “Learning” – Broadening their horizons and learning of new developments and sharing only interesting information with others. 

Engaging with patients, especially through social media, created a lot of buzz with some realizing that this will benefit both parties (physician-patient) as it will ensure effective communication, counter balance of misinformation and clinical research.

The debate on the how, if at all, should physicians engage with patients and use social media continues. With that being said, we are sure that the interest physicians have shown towards these topics we will have more thought provoking sessions at ASCO 13.