More Doctors Embracing Facebook, Twitter For Research: Study

Bangalore: Social media now even helps for research. Around one in four physicians in the U.S. use social media once or multiple times daily to explore medical information and 14 percent do so daily to contribute new information, as per a new survey.

The survey was conducted on 485 oncologists and primary care physicians. It revealed that 61 percent of physicians scan social media for information and 46 percent contribute new information on a weekly basis or even more often.

Social media was defined as "internet-based applications that allow for the creation and exchange of user-generated content, including social networking, professional online communities, wikis, blogs and microblogging," as reported by IANS.

Robert S Miller, assistant professor of oncology and oncology medical information officer at the Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Centre said since the survey was conducted 19 months ago, it is possible that more physicians are using social media now, as reported in Journal of Medical Internet Research.

Miller said the amount of information required for medical practice is growing exponentially, and social media provides "a very valid construct for physicians to keep current", according to a Johns Hopkins statement.

(With agency inputs)