How Likes and Retweets Impacted Our Patients During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Lourdes G Ramirez; Paige G Wickner; Nicholas B Cline; Narmeen Rehman; Ann Chen Wu; Lily C Pien; David Stukus

doi:10.1016/j.jaip.2023.07.033

How Likes and Retweets Impacted Our Patients During the COVID-19 Pandemic

J Allergy Clin Immunol Pract. 2023 Nov;11(11):3356-3364. doi: 10.1016/j.jaip.2023.07.033. Epub 2023 Aug 1.

Authors

Lourdes G Ramirez¹, Paige G Wickner², Nicholas B Cline³, Narmeen Rehman⁴, Ann Chen Wu⁴, Lily C Pien⁵, David Stukus⁶

Affiliations

¹ Division of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, Mass. Electronic address: lgramirez@bwh.harvard.edu.
² Division of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, Mass.
³ Department of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, Respiratory Institute, Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland, Ohio.
⁴ Department of Population Medicine, Harvard Pilgrim Health Care Institute and Harvard Medical School, Boston, Mass.
⁵ Department of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, Respiratory Institute, Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland, Ohio; Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio; Office of Educator and Scholar Development, Education Institute, Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland, Ohio.
⁶ Division of Allergy and Immunology, Nationwide Children's Hospital, Department of Pediatrics, College of Medicine, the Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio.

PMID: 37536500
DOI: 10.1016/j.jaip.2023.07.033

Abstract

The growing dependence on social media for health-related information boomed during the COVID-19 pandemic, posing unprecedented challenges in navigating the vast amounts of information available right at our fingertips. Social media had a major impact on clinical decision-making affecting individuals, communities, and societies at large. In this review, we discuss the role of social media in amplifying information and misinformation as well as factors contributing to its reliance and prevalence. We review how medical providers have been impacted by this changing landscape, useful communication strategies to employ with in-office patient encounters, and how we can be active players in using social media as a tool for health promotion, correcting misinformation, and preparing for future pandemics.

Keywords: Allergy/immunology; COVID-19; Disinformation; Infodemic; Misinformation; Risk communication; Shared clinical decision-making; Social media; Telemedicine.

Publication types

Review

MeSH terms

COVID-19*
Clinical Decision-Making
Communication
Emotions
Humans
Pandemics
Social Media*