Sask. doctors take to social media to dispel misinformation, promote public health measures

By Greg Basky

Saskatoon family physician Dr. Emily Sullivan started posting COVID-related memes and infographics to Instagram early on in the pandemic because she saw an information gap facing people in their 20s and 30s. Dr. Sullivan, whose handle is @yxe.md, figured while people 40 and older were already well served on Facebook and Twitter by the Saskatchewan Health Authority (SHA) and the provincial government, people in her own and younger demographics were at risk of missing out.

Prior to that, she hadn’t used social media as part of her work. “But I was following influencers in Saskatoon so I understood how the platform (Instagram) worked,” says Dr. Sullivan, who now has more than 13,000 followers on the image-based social media platform. “I started sharing some of my own scientific evidence-based content, along with content from the SHA, so that people who didn’t have Facebook or Twitter would see it.”

For ICU physician Dr. Hassan Masri, it was a video his mother shared on social media, touting garlic and olive oil as a cure for COVID, that sparked him to start talking about the pandemic on Facebook. After receiving overwhelming response to his first video – done in his mother tongue, Arabic – he posted another, this time in English. Dr, Masri has been active on the platform ever since, at times sharing written and video posts several times each week.

Dr. Hassan Masri

“There was a void and either you fill it up and answer (people’s questions) and help them, or they will turn to other people who may not be qualified to answer those questions,” says Dr. Masri. “It was very clear to me from the beginning that there was a real battle that was about to happen between misinformation and real scientific facts.”

Advocacy part of a physician’s job

Both Dr. Masri and Dr. Sullivan consider advocacy to be part of their job as a physician.

“Everyone does that in different ways,” said Dr. Sullivan, who has her master’s in public health “I felt that it (using social media) would be a fast and easy way for me to connect with the public and get information out, and help people navigate public health measures.”

Dr. Masri would like to see more of his physician colleagues get active on social media. “You cannot underestimate the power of words and images and video,” he said. “Physicians are supposed to be leaders in the community. People really respect us. They trust us.”

Physicians wield considerable influence and they’re not using it nearly enough to create positive change, and not just around COVID-19, he said.

“We’re missing so many opportunities to address issues like obesity, poverty, homelessness, drug addiction, mental health, access to care.” He’d like to see more guidance and support from national physician organizations to help doctors engage effectively on social media, and to avoid any potential missteps.

Physicians develop unique social styles

When Dr. Sullivan launched her account, she was still on maternity leave, so she had more time to create original content – memes and infographics. Busier now, she says many of her posts are screen shots of information shared by the SHA, for example, or a particularly good tweet from an epidemiologist. She characterizes her posts as a mix of dispelling misinformation and advocating for adherence to public health measures. Later in the pandemic she shared more information around vaccinations.

THERE WAS A VOID AND EITHER YOU FILL IT UP AND ANSWER (PEOPLE’S QUESTIONS) AND HELP THEM, OR THEY WILL TURN TO OTHER PEOPLE WHO MAY NOT BE QUALIFIED TO ANSWER THOSE QUESTIONS.

There’s been an evolution in his Facebook posts, says Dr. Masri. “In the beginning, in the first few months, it was more just busting myths and spreading real, factual scientific-based information,” he said. From there, he shifted his focus to why it is important to follow public health orders, to get vaccinated. “Then it was more educational.” And throughout there’s always been a thread of advocating for government to take steps that are in the best interests of patients.

Haters gonna hate

Dr. Sullivan’s skin has grown considerably thicker since March 2020. She doesn’t take the trolls as seriously now. And she puts down her phone when she’s tempted to engage with someone who’s posted something inflammatory. “You can’t take them (attacks) to heart,” said Dr. Sullivan. “It’s just part of the game, and you have to be able to go with the flow.”

It’s important to recognize that physicians are unlikely to sway the deeply entrenched opinions of COVID deniers and non-believers, says Dr. Sullivan. “The true anti-vaxxers are really hard to reach. But the vaccine hesitant are the kinds of people we can have a positive influence on.”

Both physicians note that their followers quickly come to their defence when someone posts a negative comment in response to something they’ve shared. Dr. Masri puts a lot of time into the wording of his posts, so they cannot be misunderstood, or provide something for his critics to latch on to. “If I think a person is a real account or posing a genuine question, I usually engage with some education,” he said.

But if a person is using foul language or making baseless accusations, he simply ignores the comment and moves on to the next one. “Those few bad apples don’t bother me much anymore.”

Dr. Sullivan is definitely going to take a break from her professional use of Instagram once the pandemic is over. But she’s already looking ahead to what public health issues she can tackle down the road. While she’s tried to stay “on brand” by focusing her social posts on COVID-19, Dr. Sullivan’s followers reacted positively – with lots of likes and shares – to a post she did reminding people that we’re also in the midst of a syphilis outbreak.

“I know there is interest out there for general public health advocacy.” ◆