Social Media and information dissemination

Narayanaswami P, Gronseth G, Dubinsky R, Penfold-Murray R, Cox J, Bever C Jr, Martins Y, Rheaume C, Shouse D, Getchius TS. The Impact of Social Media on Dissemination and Implementation of Clinical Practice Guidelines: A Longitudinal Observational Study.J Med Internet Res. 2015;17(8):e193. doi: 10.2196/jmir.4414.
BACKGROUND:Evidence-based clinical practice guidelines (CPGs) are statements that provide recommendations to optimize patient care for a specific clinical problem or question. Merely reading a guideline rarely leads to implementation of recommendations. The American Academy of Neurology (AAN) has a formal process of guideline development and dissemination. The last few years have seen a burgeoning of social media such as Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn, and newer methods of dissemination such as podcasts and webinars. The role of these media in guideline dissemination has not been studied. Systematic evaluation of dissemination methods and comparison of the effectiveness of newer methods with traditional methods is not available. It is also not known whether specific dissemination methods may be more effectively targeted to specific audiences.
OBJECTIVE: Our aim was to (1) develop an innovative dissemination strategy by adding social media-based dissemination methods to traditional methods for the AAN clinical practice guidelines "Complementary and alternative medicine in multiple sclerosis" ("CAM in MS") and (2) evaluate whether the addition of social media outreach improves awareness of the CPG and knowledge of CPG recommendations, and affects implementation of those recommendations.
METHODS: Outcomes were measured by four surveys in each of the two target populations: patients and physicians/clinicians ("physicians"). The primary outcome was the difference in participants' intent to discuss use of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) with their physicians or patients, respectively, after novel dissemination, as compared with that after traditional dissemination. Secondary outcomes were changes in awareness of the CPG, knowledge of CPG content, and behavior regarding CAM use in multiple sclerosis (MS).
RESULTS: Response rates were 25.08% (622/2480) for physicians and 43.5% (348/800) for patients. Awareness of the CPG increased after traditional dissemination (absolute difference, 95% confidence interval: physicians 36%, 95% CI 25-46, and patients 10%, 95% CI 1-11) but did not increase further after novel dissemination (physicians 0%, 95% CI -11 to 11, and patients -4%, 95% CI -6 to 14). Intent to discuss CAM also increased after traditional dissemination but did not change after novel dissemination (traditional: physicians 12%, 95% CI 2-22, and patients 19%, 95% CI 3-33; novel: physicians 11%, 95% CI -1 to -21, and patients -8%, 95% CI -22 to 8). Knowledge of CPG recommendations and behavior regarding CAM use in MS did not change after either traditional dissemination or novel dissemination.
CONCLUSIONS: Social media-based dissemination methods did not confer additional benefit over print-, email-, and Internet-based methods in increasing CPG awareness and changing intent in physicians or patients. 
So this comes as no surprise that neuros do not utilise social media. We have been doing social media aspects at ECTRIMS and it is clear that few will use Twitter...at least professionally. The typical media, e.g. papers, pubmed, email and the web is something people are trained to use from our educators. 

However, social media is something we learn from our students, who regularly use facebook to perform joint projects and no doubt with time the results of the current survey will change as some of the target audience grow older. There are some of the current target audience who will have just moved away from using semaphor:-).
However, I do remember searching the library and books like "current contents" and Index Medicus (The paper version of pubmed that arrived once a month) to get new information. Now it is obtained without having to move from your computer.

That the response rate of neuros was low and serves to highlight the lack of engagement and use of facebook etc only adds to the work load for professionals and it is of no surprise that Facebook etc took little value in gaining knowledge of guidelines.

However, as you are clued into the professional media, is the social media needed for dissemination as long as it is "open access"?

Nevertheless, it takes little more than a few seconds to post links on social media


What do you use?

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