Social media is not just for kids anymore, and radiologists must make professional use of it if they want to push the envelope on improving the way care is delivered.

That was the message conveyed in “Tweet This: How to Make Radiology More Patient Centered,” an RSNA Public Information Committee-sponsored session, in which presenters advised radiologists to embrace social media tools in order to establish better communication with their patients.

The fundamental point of the session was that both patients and providers are using social media in almost every other aspect of their lives, so it makes sense to employ them to share information about health care in general and radiology in particular. Patient-centered care in the 21st century is already fundamentally interconnected with the internet, so keeping up with the latest tools for interaction is a necessary step.
While attitudes toward social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, Google Plus, Yelp and others may be tinged by their prevalence in popular youth culture, they are extremely powerful instruments for conveying any sort of information, including the most sophisticated medical and radiological content.

The majority of patients, especially those with chronic conditions, are making constant use of the internet to inform themselves about health issues, hospitals, clinics, doctors, and radiologists, for better or worse. According to the presenters, it is incumbent upon providers, including radiologists, to ensure that misinformation and misrepresentations are minimized by making accurate, professional resources available on these platforms.

As presenter Sr. Susan John, chair of Diagnostic and Interventional Imaging and professor of Diagnostic Imaging and Pediatrics at Memorial Hermann Hospital in Houston, put it, “Electronic communication tools are becoming increasingly valuable as methods of information transfer between patients and physicians.” In the future, “I anticipate that patient portals and facility websites will develop even more elegant ways to facilitate high-quality patient experiences in radiology.”

Likewise, Whitney Fishman Zember, MBA, managing partner of innovation and consumer technology at the New York City-based MEC, a leading advertising media planning agency with expertise in digital media and social media marketing, said that “People are no longer willing to have medicine practiced as it has been for the last century.”

They want access to their “medical records, imaging records, information about their disease and outcomes, and to physicians or other care providers when they want them," she explained.

Today’s means of obtaining access to all kinds of information are increasingly reliant on social media platforms — not just static web sites. According to Zember, it is “no different for radiology practices seeking stronger relationships with their patients — and potential patients — and/or to market their services.”

Dr. Elliot K. Fishman, professor of radiology, oncology, surgery and urology at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, concluded the session by demonstrating how a number of successful social media sites “allow us to redefine who we are and the role Radiology plays in health care.”

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