TY - JOUR
T1 - "Ask a Doctor About Coronavirus"
T2 - How Physicians on Social Media Can Provide Valid Health Information During a Pandemic
AU - Furstrand, Dorthe
AU - Pihl, Andreas
AU - Orbe, Elif Bayram
AU - Kingod, Natasja
AU - Søndergaard, Jens
PY - 2021/4/20
Y1 - 2021/4/20
N2 - In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, the information stream has overflowed with accurate information, misinformation, and constantly changing guidelines. There is a great need for guidance on the identification of trustworthy health information, and official channels are struggling to keep pace with this infodemic. Consequently, a Facebook group was created where volunteer medical physicians would answer laypeople's questions about the 2019 novel coronavirus. There is not much precedence in health care professional-driven Facebook groups, and the framework was thus developed continuously. We ended up with an approach without room for debate, which fostered a sense of calmness, trust, and safety among the questioners. Substantial moderator effort was needed to ensure high quality and consistency through collaboration among the presently >200 physicians participating in this group. At the time of writing, the group provides a much-needed service to >58,000 people in Denmark during this crisis.
AB - In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, the information stream has overflowed with accurate information, misinformation, and constantly changing guidelines. There is a great need for guidance on the identification of trustworthy health information, and official channels are struggling to keep pace with this infodemic. Consequently, a Facebook group was created where volunteer medical physicians would answer laypeople's questions about the 2019 novel coronavirus. There is not much precedence in health care professional-driven Facebook groups, and the framework was thus developed continuously. We ended up with an approach without room for debate, which fostered a sense of calmness, trust, and safety among the questioners. Substantial moderator effort was needed to ensure high quality and consistency through collaboration among the presently >200 physicians participating in this group. At the time of writing, the group provides a much-needed service to >58,000 people in Denmark during this crisis.
U2 - 10.2196/24586
DO - 10.2196/24586
M3 - Journal article
C2 - 33835935
VL - 23
JO - Journal of Medical Internet Research
JF - Journal of Medical Internet Research
SN - 1439-4456
IS - 4
M1 - e24586
ER -