H. J. Logghe1, A. A. Ghaferi2, B. Moeinolmolki4, N. Floch3, S. Arghavan5 1Allies for Health,Reno, NV, USA 2University Of Michigan,Ann Arbor, MI, USA 3Fairfield County Bariatrics And Surgical Specialists,Norwalk, CT, USA 4Moein Surgical Arts,Los Angeles, CA, USA 5Washington University,St. Louis, MO, USA
Introduction: Thirty-six percent of American adults have obesity. Bariatric surgery is the most effective treatment for obesity, yet less than 1% of eligible Americans undergo surgery. This discrepancy is often blamed on limited understanding of surgical treatments by patients and primary care providers. We hypothesized that tweetchats would be a novel way for surgeons to bridge the education gap and engage with allied health professionals, patients, and advocates. In December 2016, we initiated a monthly #obsm (obesity social media) tweetchat aimed at creating an interdisciplinary, patient-inclusive community to improve awareness of and access to unbiased, evidence-based treatments for those with obesity.
Methods: Tweetchat dates and topics were announced through blog posts written by the leadership team of five surgeons and posted on personal and institutional websites, which were shared and publicized on Twitter. The tweetchats lasted one hour and occurred monthly. During each chat five pre-determined questions were presented in ten-minute intervals by the #obsm Twitter account. Each chat was moderated by a content expert, with healthcare professionals and other stakeholders recruited to participate. Tweets and corresponding user profiles were prospectively collected through the Symplur Healthcare Hashtag Project. Customized stakeholder categorization of participants was performed using Symplur Signals.
Results: The first six chats resulted in an average of 692 (range: 498-974) tweets, 8.4 (range: 5.4-13.6) million impressions, and 51 (range: 26-74) participants per chat. Participants averaged 14 (range: 10-22) tweets per chat. The interchat periods averaged 12.0 (range: 5.3-21.3) million impressions with 1,232 (range: 612-1,940) tweets by 276 (range: 168-413) participants. Stakeholder categorization revealed representation by individuals and organizations both within and outside healthcare. Table 1 demonstrates select stakeholders in the #obsm community during the 6 months analyzed.
Conclusion: A surgeon-led tweetchat on obesity and bariatric surgery resulted in robust participation and impressions from diverse participants. Discussion was sustained beyond the scheduled tweetchat. Of note, our results only capture active engagement by participants. Twitter, a public social media platform, allows people to see the content freely. As such, the estimates of participation and engagement may be underestimated. Nonetheless our experience suggests tweetchats may serve as powerful forums for surgeons in other subspecialties to engage with their respective stakeholders to improve understanding of treatment options, to enhance the experience of patients, and to reduce barriers to care.
