Lifelong Learning
Follow your Association
Many American medical societies or associations are available to follow on Facebook. These pages may post mini-case presentations, links to their CME offerings, and are a great place to meet other physicians that are interested in developing their knowledge and skills via online interaction. Here are some Facebook pages available:
American College of Emergency Physicians American Medical Association Texas Medical Association American Board of Medical Specialties (ABMS) |
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Become a content Creator
Some physicians have already risen to "internet fame" and therefore, have become subject matter experts in various topics. While they might nor reach the status of Dr. Oz or Dr. Phil, these internet physicians provide access to information and disseminate ideas in a new, interesting way.
Zubin Demania, MD, is the founder of TurnTable Health and has over 250,000 likes (or followers) on his Facebook page. He even has a name for his followers, the Z-Pacs. ZDoggMD creates parody videos (think Weird Al Yankovic) and posts them via Facebook to his followers. Here is a sample video. |
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While a parody, Dr. Demania hits on an epidemic currently occurring in the United States and begins the conversation in the comments about how different hospitals are combating the issues seen with these patients every day.
Interprofessional Community
Physicians are the least likely of the health professions to utilize social media for learning, however, as many as 65% of nurses utilize social media for learning (Wang, Sandhu, Wittich, Mandrekar, & Beckman, 2012). Therefore, there is a vast community of health care providers that are waiting for the physician voice to join in as well. As healthcare transitions to an interprofessional team, a lot can be learned from the dialogue that could exist on social media.
Online Social Support
The act of learning is support by many different environmental factors. You tend to learn more when your life is in a certain balance. Physicians stress can lead to burnout (Rosenstein, 2012) of the job and finding a community that is empathetic to that stress is important. You can do as one group of physician moms have done and start a Facebook group to support each other. They discuss some medical topics, some support topics, but regardless, have a network to turn to if needed (Cummins, 2016).
References
Cummins, R. (216). Physician moms gind solace, support from their own Facebook group. Retrieved from https://www.umc.edu/News_and_Publications/Press_Release/2016-02-18-00_Physician_moms_find_solace,_support_from_their_own_Facebook_group.aspx
Rosenstein, A. H. (2012, November-December). Physician stress and burnout: what can we do? Physician Executive, 38(6), 22+. Retrieved from http://libproxy.library.unt.edu:2143/ps/i.do?id=GALE%7CA311852632&sid=summon&v=2.1&u=txshracd2679&it=r&p=HRCA&sw=w&asid=e7b5bb45cd20d36548ee11e39e3b0d59
Wang, A. T., Sandhu, N. P., Wittich, C. M., Mandrekar, J. N., & Beckman, T. J. (2012). Using Social Media to Improve Continuing Medical Education: A Survey of Course Participants. Mayo Clinic Proceedings, 87(12), 1162–1170. http://doi.org/10.1016/j.mayocp.2012.07.024
Rosenstein, A. H. (2012, November-December). Physician stress and burnout: what can we do? Physician Executive, 38(6), 22+. Retrieved from http://libproxy.library.unt.edu:2143/ps/i.do?id=GALE%7CA311852632&sid=summon&v=2.1&u=txshracd2679&it=r&p=HRCA&sw=w&asid=e7b5bb45cd20d36548ee11e39e3b0d59
Wang, A. T., Sandhu, N. P., Wittich, C. M., Mandrekar, J. N., & Beckman, T. J. (2012). Using Social Media to Improve Continuing Medical Education: A Survey of Course Participants. Mayo Clinic Proceedings, 87(12), 1162–1170. http://doi.org/10.1016/j.mayocp.2012.07.024