Post on 22-Jan-2018
Writing in medicine - How to
Capture an audience: Social
media, editorials, letters
and clinical commentaries
Professor Azeem Majeed MD FRCP FRCGP FFPH
Professor of Primary Care & Head of Department
Department of Primary Care & Public Health
What is social media?
Sharing information through interactive online exchanges
Used in marketing Deliver key messages
Advertise services
Improve communication
Slower uptake by the NHS
Can be included in General Practices’ communication strategies
Some social media platforms
• Blogs
• YouTube
• HTML Newsletters
• Many others: Instagram, Storify etc.
Blogs
• A blog is a frequently updated online personal journal or diary
• Free blogs: Blogger, WordPress
• Paid Blogs: WordPress
• Medical Blogs: BMJ, Pulse, King’s Fund, PHE
• General Media: Guardian, Huffington Post
• Twitter is a service that allows the exchange of quick, frequent messages (tweets).
• Tweets which may contain photos, videos, links and up to 140 characters of text.
• These messages are posted to your profile, sent to your followers, and are searchable on Twitter search
• Twitter ‘lists’ are useful for following specific users of Twitter
9000 tweets per
second
230 million active
users monthly
29% of 15-34
years old on Twitter
Twitter in Clinical Practice
Share views and expertise on health news
Respond to emerging health issues Disease outbreaks
Changes to local health services
Informal,
straightforward 140 characters
Promotional tool
• A social networking website that allows users to create profiles, upload photos and video and send messages
• Now the world’s largest social networking site with over one billion users
• Allows the creation of groups and the publicising of events
• You can also use your Facebook ID to sign into other sites
1.23 billion active
users monthly
223 million Europeans
on Facebook
30% of users between 25 – 34 years old
24% of marketers report that Facebook is critical to their business
Facebook in Clinical Practice
Informal, friendly Confidentiality (monitoring)
Interact with patients
Share information
quickly
Promote activitiesFlu vaccination season
New services
Registration of new
patients
YouTube
• A free video sharing website (owned by Google)
• You can create and upload your own videos
• If you've ever watched a video online, there's a good chance it was a YouTube video
• The ubiquity of smartphones now makes it easy to record & upload videos
• More professional-looking videos require more effort to produce
HTML (Email) Newsletter
Regular newsletter
Goal:
Publicise work
Educate patients
Proactive form of marketing
MailChimp
Design: pictures, graphs, charts,
concise, limited medical jargon
Distribution
Targeted newslettersAimed at specific groups
Flu vaccine programme
QOF reminders
NHS Health Checks
Childhood immunisations
Screening programmes
Impact remains to be evaluated
Practice / Personal Website
Regularly updated
Comprehensive
Location and contact details
Opening hours
Services
Registration packs
News section
Guidelines: emergencies, self-help, online services
Link to other social media platforms
NHS Choices
Basic information Location
Contact details
Opening hours
Staff
Services
Managed by designated member of staff
Patient feedback
NHS Choices – Patient
feedback
Authoritative and constructive answerDesignated member of staff (practice manager)
Consistent, non-generic answers
No defensive/negative replies
Invite patients to discuss issues confidentially
Patient welcome pack
Emailed to all new patients
Welcome letter with embedded links
Patient Access (Emis Web)
Electronic Prescription Service
Patient Participation Group
Most recent electronic newsletter
Capture email addresses from current practice patients
Professional Guidelines
Published by GMC, BMA & others
Remember social media is a public forum
Maintain confidentiality
Respect colleagues
Be aware of conflicts of interest
Even if you delete a post, someone may
retain a copy
Examples of what not to post?
Don’t forget ‘old-fashioned’ media
• Boundaries between traditional medical media and social media blurring
• Almost all medical journals now have an online presence
• Increasing number of ‘open access’ online only journals where the author pays
• Still a large audience for more traditional articles
• Develop a thick skin and be prepared for rejection
What kind of articles can you write?
• Rapid online responses (e.g. BMJ)
• Letters to the Editor
• Clinical commentaries
• Health policy articles
• Editorials
• “How to” articles (e.g. 10-minute consultations)
How do you measure the social media impact of your academic article?
• Altmetric Score: A system that tracks the attention that academic articles receive online.
• It does this by pulling in data from three main sources:– Social media like Twitter, Facebook, Google+, Pinterest
and blogs– Traditional media - both mainstream (The Guardian,
New York Times) and science specific (New Scientist, Scientific American).
– Online reference managers like Mendeley and CiteULike
How do you measure the academic impact of your article?
• Google Scholar Citations
• Provides a simple way for authors to keep track of citations to their articles
• You can check who is citing your publications, graph citations over time, and compute several citation metrics.
• You can make your profile public
Advice on good writing style
• Many style guides are available
• Pick one that you like
• I generally recommend “Medical Writing: A Prescription for Clarity”
• “From Creation To Chaos: Classic Writings in Science” Edited by Bernard Dixon
Some basic points about writing style
• Spend time acquiring a good, readable style of writing
• Be clear and concise
• Avoid using too many long sentences
• When you have the choice of two words, use the simpler one
• Use active rather than passive verbs
• Avoid using colloquial language & cliches
What did Winston Churchill say?
• He said “I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears and sweat”
• He did not say “I have nothing to offer but the red liquid that circulates in blood vessels, exertion, lacrimation and perspiration”
Great writers can break the rules
It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way – in short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only.
Some examples rewritten1: In the case of this particular elderly patient hypertensive population, reduction of blood pressure by 18/11 mm Hg was achieved for a mean duration of follow up period of 4.4 years. However, with regard to overall mortality, there was no effect nor was there any effect on the incidence of occurrence of myocardial infarction, whether of fatal or non-fatal nature. With respect to cardiovascular accidents, a reduction in incidence of 42% was encountered, and this was mainly associated with strokes leading to fatality or serious neurological sequelae. Although it was not significant, cardiovascular mortality was shown to be reduced by 22%.
In these elderly patients with hypertension, blood pressure decreased by 18/11 mm Hg for a mean follow up of 4.4 years. There was no effect on overall death rates or on the incidence of fatal or non-fatal heart attacks, but there were 42% fewer strokes, mainly apparent in fatal and major strokes. Deaths from cardiovascular disease decreased by 22%, but this was not statistically significant.
2: It is possible to speculate that operative intervention would have saved this man’s life. The policy of management was conservative because of uncertainty as to the cause of deterioration.
An operation might have saved this man’s life, but we did not operate because we did not know why he had deteriorated.
3: Each case has to be managed individually after a full history has been taken, and examination and, where necessary, special investigations have been undertaken, so that an accurate diagnosis can be made and appropriate treatment selected.
Each case has to be managed individually. A full history and examination and any necessary special investigations will enablean accurate diagnosis and appropriate treatment.
4: Baby walkers are devices that provide preambulatory infants with postural support in addition to offering them the opportunity to experience bipedal locomotion. They are intended to simulate independent walking and by so doing, it is argued, encourage and even accelerate the early acquisition of this skill.
Baby walkers are devices that allow babies who are still at the crawling stage to stand and to practise walking. Some authorities believe that they speed up the ability of babies to walk independently.
Source: Medical Writing. A Prescription for Clarity
The social media strategy
SETTING GOALS
• What does the practice wish to achieve by making use of the social
social media?
• Is the emphasis educating and informing patients, collecting feedback,
feedback, advocating points of views, promoting the general practice,
practice, and/or improving social networking?
THE DETAILS
• How much time can be invested to keep accounts up-to-date?
• Is there a need for extra members of staff?
• What types of message should be diffused (professional, personal,
personal, etc.)?
EXPLORING AND SELECTING APPROPRIATE
CHANNELS
• Which websites and applications are needed to achieve the set
goals?
• What is the best platform to reach the selected audience and to
to deliver the chosen messages?
• What are the rules and codes of each channel?
Can social media benefit
patients?Patient engagement and empowerment
Patient health education
Productive consultations
Communication with key
patient groups
Responsiveness to feedback
Health outcomes
Health promotion tool
Self-management tool
Conclusions
• Be willing to communicate your ideas
• Use ‘new’ and ‘conventional’ media
• Social media – be prepared for criticism
• Conventional media – be prepared for rejection
• Ultimately, you will benefit
Acknowledgements
Thanks to my clinical and academic
colleagues
Thanks also to my patients