“This isn’t an addition to your job. This is part of your job,” says Mayo Clinic cardiologist and Medical Director of Mayo Clinic’s Center for Social Media, Farris Timimi, M.D., when discussing the role and use of social media in health care.
“This is a conversation, which is what we are trained to do. We are about the needs of the patient, and this is where our patients are, and this is where their needs are going to be met most effectively.”
Dr. Timimi shares that meeting the needs of today’s patient requires adjusting to the new standard of physician-patient relationship. “I think what we’re all seeing is a change in the relationship between patients and providers. The typical compact that we knew 20 years ago, where the provider guided therapy on their own, I think all of us are aware that’s no longer the case. There’s more and more interest in a shared process. These tools help us reach so many people and make that transition more of a reality. We can reach people everywhere and bring shared interactions to all parts of our practice. That’s powerful!”
While there are often misconceptions surrounding the platforms of social media, Dr. Timimi also remarks that, “This is the same conversation the people have been having for hundreds of years, it’s just in a digital platform, and my goal is to help people find innovative ways to apply these tools to research, practice, and education.”
The video of Dr. Timimi can be found below:
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Great video, great comments… you will prove to be a great leader for #mccsm . Looking fwd to NYC and Rochester mtgs this year!
Great video! Thanks for continuing to be a voice for the necessity of social media for healthcare providers. How much time to you recommend your physicians devote to social media on a daily basis?
Thanks for your great feedback! In regards to your question, we have submitted it to Dr. Timimi and hope to get an answer back soon!
Dr. Timimi replied: “Time commitment varies in large part depending on platform. Twitter can readily be incorporated into workflow with an initial volume target of 3-5 Tweets per day, of which 1-2 may be re-tweets. In contrast, blogging may require up to 30 minutes per day, in order to respond to comments and insure that the content is dynamic. YouTube and Facebook fall between. Involvement should be tailored to the providers interest level and capacity, coupled with the specific operational goal, be it improving practice, education or research.”
“The biggest pitfall is not to listen effectively.”
Dr. Timimi’s
Social Media/New Media gives us a unique perspective and opportunity to not only listen to patients, colleagues, mentors, etc but also allows us to learn from our global health care and social media community.
I’m pleased Dr. Timimi chose to discuss the importance of listening in this video.
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