Use of Social Media by Healthcare Professionals

Public Health Education and Promotion. When COVID-19 crisis hit Cebu City sometime in March 2020, I personally felt frustrated that most of the infomercials online educating the public about transmission of the novel coronavirus was in Tagalog. Not everyone could understand Tagalog. This was a hindrance for me since I had yet to learn how to speak Cebuano. So I challenged Atty Rey Cris Panugaling to create a program to educate the hospital employees as well as our patients on what COVID-19 was, how it is transmitted and what the Department of Health and our own hospital was doing about it - to gather public support for frontline healthcare workers.

Since then we've aired more than 100 episodes of our SOTTO LIVE FB program to connect healthcare workers with patients and their families... and I learned to speak conversational Bisaya or Cebuano, the local dialect!

SOTTO LIVE has evolved to different shows on a daily basis with Debunking Myths on Mondays, Mental Health Check on Tuesdays, The Doctor is Here on Wednesdays, SOTTO NATIN 'TO on Thursdays and SOTTO LIVE Reports on Fridays.

Teaching, Learning and Patient Care. Today the Philippine Obstetrical and Gynecological Society (POGS) Committee on Information, Communications and Technology launched its #virtualPOGS webinar 1.0 as a guide on how to behave online as well as how to access the society's website in preparation for our annual convention.

Moving Forward. I look forward to my own lecture for #virtualPOGS WEBINAR 2.0 of the POGS Committee on Information, Communications and Technology on September 10, 2020 from 10:00 am to 12:00 nn. This will be the FIRST TIME for me to give a lecture to a National POGS audience, and it's on social media! Do support me please!

Health Professional Education. Last week, we were required to attend a workshop on how to use google classroom for our medical students: how to create a class, how to add students, how to make assignments as well as quizzes. Amazing how programs like these make checking student work and grading them easy as a peach! It seems the faculty (and parents of students) have a more difficult time adjusting to online classes compared to students themselves!

 

During last year's #HCSMPH2019 keynote speaker Jojo Fresnedi spoke about social media being the medium of this era. We realize that #HealthXPH has long identified that social media is here to stay and that we aim to make the impact of social media on healthcare a positive one, where healthcare workers, policy makers, students and patients can connect and have online conversations on healthcare.

How has the new normal forced you and those around you to embrace digital technology?

How do you use social media today?

Who do you follow on social media for guidance and why?