As a member of the Cardiovascular and Interventional Radiological Society of Europe (CIRSE) social media subcommittee, Evgenia Efthymiou (University of Athens, Athens, Greece) expands on the importance of visibility and the valuable interventional initiatives that can be achieved online.
The advent of social media has generally transformed the healthcare landscape, facilitating communication, collaboration, education, and patient-centred care. Interventional radiology (IR), a technologically driven specialty, inevitably experiences the impact of platforms like X, LinkedIn, Facebook and Instagram. Past research has shown a significant increase in the adoption of social media within the radiology community,1 while a recent Australian study showed that the majority of interventional radiologists use at least one social media account.2
Sharing educational content, such as intriguing cases and innovative approaches to complex clinical scenarios, is among the most prevalent and efficient use of social media within the IR community.3 Εvery post with a popular hashtag could be widely shared and may commence a vivid discussion regarding technical details, risk of complications and postoperative care etc.
Educational posts are shared not only among qualified interventional radiologists, but also between medical students and residents. It is essential to highlight the role of social media in early medical education, as nowadays, multiple accounts are available on X (@ETF_IRtrainees, @IR_Juniors) along with Instagram and Facebook accounts and groups, which provide a wealth of images and case-based discussions about IR. The importance of social media use in early medical education and during residency could be easily addressed, by observing the constant increase of followers across various accounts as well as the increasing frequency of reposted content.
Social media serves as a crucial platform for mentoring and motivating medical students and young interventional radiologists. Presently, numerous accounts are accessible, providing students, prospective residents, and fellows with insights into the daily experiences of IR and the training programmes available. These accounts may belong to societies and training centres, but they can also be managed by current trainees and interventional radiologists, who—in a more direct and personal manner— share insights into their training journey and the challenges they face.
Besides educational purposes, social media facilitates communication and interaction, allowing active participation in online discussions. These interactions are instrumental in developing a professional network and can enhance one’s career by creating opportunities for collaboration. Platforms like LinkedIn or ResearchGate showcase individuals’ curriculum vitae (CV) and research interests, facilitating recruitment efforts and enabling participation in multicentre research projects. It has also been proven, that sharing research via social media is linked with higher citation rates.4 In addition to personal accounts, radiology departments, journals and radiology professional societies use social media platforms for research dissemination.
Social media can also raise awareness among other medical professionals and patients, advocating for the important role of IR in modern medicine. It highlights the availability of alternative minimally invasive treatments and showcases the positive impact IR procedures can have on patients’ lives.
A primary concern regarding the use of social media in healthcare is the potential breach of patient confidentiality, which can occur easily. Discussing specific procedural details or complex and rare cases could compromise patient privacy. Additionally, social media platforms do not undergo the rigorous peer review process of scholarly articles, making them susceptible to misinformation. Therefore, each post should undergo further personal review before dissemination. Lastly, maintaining professionalism consistently in all interactions is crucial, as misunderstandings can easily occur.
To sum up, social media has become an indispensable aspect of the contemporary world, including within IR, providing a multitude of opportunities such as promoting medical education, fostering career development, facilitating networking, and disseminating research, among others. As we expand our presence on social media, the field of IR will have greater influence in the swiftly changing medical environment.
References:
- Patel SS, Hawkins CM, et al. Professional social networking in radiology: Who is there and what are they doing?. Acad Radiol. 2017;24(5):574-579. doi:10.1016/j.acra.2016.09.026
- Wang MT, Foo M, Maingard J, et al. Social media in interventional radiology. J Med Imaging Radiat Oncol. 2021;65(2):182-187. doi:10.1111/1754-9485.13142
- Kassin MT, Ukeh I, Bunch PM, Sabri SS. Social media considerations for the interventional radiologist. Radiographics. 2022;42(6):E165-E166. doi:10.1148/ rg.220157
- Widmer RJ, Mandrekar J, Ward A, et al. Effect of promotion via social media on access of articles in an academic medical journal: A randomized controlled trial. Acad Med. 2019;94(10):1546-1553. doi:10.1097/ ACM.0000000000002811
Evgenia Efthymiou is an interventional radiologist at the Attikon University Hospital, Athens, Greece.
