The digital health market size is expected to surpass $379 Billion by 2024.
More healthcare professionals are making the switch to digital than ever before, and with that has come a new breed of industry collaboration and networking.
Social media has become a promising tool for growing your career and building a professional community. Thanks to the internet, medical professionals now have a place where they can connect with their community. No matter where they are in the world, in real-time.
But how can you know which platform is worth your time and energy? Indeed, the communities on different social platforms are not uniform. Each platform grows its sub-communities with different goals and intentions.
Some mainstream social media sites like LinkedIn can be valuable to the healthcare industry. Others aren't always as productive for networking and finding new career opportunities.
That's why a new breed of social media platforms was created for the healthcare industry. Now, medical professionals can join a network designated for industry experts. This creates a community of individuals who all have similar intentions, to elevate their careers.
Here’s our list of the best social media sites for healthcare professionals.
Sermo is the most well-known social media platform in the health care industry. The platform claims it’s a social media network “for physicians by physicians.” Sermo is about connecting medical professionals on all levels. Whether they’re looking for a place to vent to like-minded friends or to professionally connect with new people.
Sermo unites health care professionals across 150 different countries and continues to grow. The site currently has 800,000 patrons.
Sermo offers extra income opportunities for medical professionals. There are surveys and other promotions that health professionals can contribute to for payment. The platforms claim it's given away over $16 million in honoraria.
What makes Sermo revolutionary is that it creates a space for doctors to solve medical problems. Specifically with other professionals that they usually wouldn’t have access to. This creates a level of collaboration that benefits the entire world.
This health cares social media network also features the sole peer-to-peer drug review bank. There are over 830,000 drug reviews that help doctors better provide for their patients every day.
This social media platform claims it provides the largest network of health care personnel in all of America. Over 70 percent of all registered doctors use Doximity. Also 45 percent of all nurse practitioners and physician assistants are verified members. Doximity also has a growing community of pharmacists.
According to the app, there is a larger population of medical professionals than the American Medical Association. The site also says that it's used by more physicians than Epic, America’s preferred EMR.
Doximity was created as the cure for everyday management and operational problems that medical professionals of all types face. The app makes management tasks simple, in one place, and anywhere. The tool connects teams to make the system of health care run more productively. The result is to serve patients better.
On the app, clinicians can collaborate with patient treatment on-the-go, send and receive faxes, and contact patients
This social media program is essentially a data bank created by physicians and pharmacologists. It’s the biggest community for surgeons, physicians, and students in the medical field. They rated it as the number one app for health care professionals by GSF-NDTV. It’s presently the top-ranked health care app.
DailyRounds has over 10,000 brands and 2,000 molecules registered in its program. The app currently has over 100,000 installs. The program also offers ECG tutorials, radiology, and X-ray slides every week.
This program also hosts a library of trade journals and case studies. This allows medical professionals to learn from different medical cases saved on the platform. But don’t worry; it has strict editorial guidelines. Users can publish clinical cases, which opens their work up to peer review. This is both educational and helps create better doctors and move the industry forward.
This community also provides insights from the industry’s essential medical events from across the world. DailyRounds keeps its members updated on the latest industry news. It provides a regularly updated drug and interactions list.
This platform lets healthcare experts exchange photos of patients with each other and medical students. Some media publications have referred to it as the “Instagram” of the healthcare industry.
Over 150,000 medical professionals have contributed pictures using the tool. Faces in photos are blurred so that no patient-to-doctor confidentiality lines are crossed. The platform also blocks “identifying marks” like tattoos or prominent scars. App moderators approve every image before anything is published.
Even though photos are shared, no actual medical data is shared on the app. This makes it safe for patients. To upload photos to the platform, physicians must provide credentials and agree to policies. This creates a secure platform for medical experts to share information on.
However, anyone, even the public, can join and view images. The images serve as an educational tool for both the health care industry and the public.
People can see how conditions look in real life, not sensationalized as they might be in the media. Figure1 is also unique because it allows for any case to be added, regardless of how common or uncommon it is. Users can see pictures uploaded in real-time – by doctors doing non-profit work around the world. From refugee camps, to inside the world’s most prestigious operating rooms.
The app currently serves 2.5 million medical industry professionals. Figure1 has many notable industry partners, such as Doctors Without Borders, BMJ, the American Cancer Society, Medecins Sand Frontiers, Cincinnati Children's, and Mount Sinai Health System.
Allnurses is one of the oldest social media networking sites, not just in the healthcare industry but in the world. It’s been operating since 1997 as a platform for nurses and nursing students to connect. The website provides a place for communication, and job discussions, schools, and anything else.
They designed this site for professionals who want to grow their network and learn more about their trade and the leading news in the industry.
This site is unique because it gives prospective nurses insight into the “real world” of nursing. It provides information beyond what’s taught in schools that only actual nurses can contest to.
The news section provides both unbiased and opinion articles curated by actual nurses. Therefore, all content relates directly to the interest of nurses. Students have access to a specially created feed of career opportunities for students. There’s also a special feed of jobs for specialty nurses, along with a general career search.
Allnurses has also expanded into a print, quarterly magazine. This is an excellent opportunity for nurses who want to pen their work and improve their industry authority. The site also provides a list of accredited nursing schools that are rated and reviewed by peers and nurses.
LinkedIn, when used strategically, is one of the best resources for healthcare professionals who want to expand their careers. According to Verywell Health, there are over 1.5 million industry professionals on the social network.
While ads and paid options are available on LinkedIn, the platform is free for most users. LinkedIn allows you to publish your resume publicly. The social network also lets you connect with previous employers and colleagues. It will enable you to request referrals that are displayed on your profile for anyone to see. You can also choose the skills and areas of expertise that you want your profile to be recognized for.
LinkedIn also offers “groups.” Groups can be public or private, large or intimate. Groups can be location and industry-specific like “Pharmacists of San Diego.” It can take some digging and testing to find active groups that will benefit you.
Users can also follow companies and businesses they are interested in, so it will alert them when they share new job openings. It’s also possible to tailor the “job search” field to only show jobs that include specific keywords. You can even narrow down search results to only show particular companies and locations.
However, merely existing on LinkedIn won’t likely be enough to make moves in your career. You need to play an active role in engagement. Endorse people you know, share news and articles, and like and comment on other people’s updates. Consider even trying your hand at blogging using LinkedIn’s built-in “Pulse” feature. Pulse allows users to share self-published work.
This tool shares new insights on medical topics and other information. It's unique because it's constantly updated by clinical experts in specific specialties. DynaMed doesn’t just publish news, studies, and reports; it offers context and insights that make it actionable. This platform includes a level of evidence ratings on published works. It also organizes information by study type. It includes references, study details, and summaries.
DynaMed requires that all content complete an intensive review process before it’s published. This ensures that all content shared on this social network is only top-quality and usable to the community. Users enjoy not having to spend hours searching for credible information on a topic.
This platform curates a variety of different content types. There are condition topics that provide in-depth analysis of specific diseases and ailments. These offer information on everything from the prognosis to the management of the condition.
Approach to patient topics helps professionals learn how to deliver abnormal symptoms or findings to patients. Evaluation topics help medical professionals learn how to test patients to diagnose conditions.
There are also lap monograph topics. These provide everything medical professionals need to know about laboratory procedures. Including collection, storage, and more. Management topics also offer experts practice guidelines and tips for managing specific conditions.
DynaMed also helps medical professionals review and choose drug treatments. Drug review topics allow physicians to share their experiences using medications. Drug monograph topics enable physicians to share dosing and interaction information.
Some of DynaMed's partners include the American College of Physicians (ACP), the American Medical Association (AMA), the American Association of Nurse Practitioners (AANP), Guidelines International Network (G-I-N), McMaster University, Micromedex® Solutions, Wikipedia and Zynx Health.
Did you know that 70 percent of hiring managers use social media for recruitment? A social media presence is key to career growth today. It's no longer an issue of "if" you should join the social media world, it's when, and in what way?
Community is one of the key differentiators of people who have impressive, life-long career success, and those who don't. A community creates a system of support. Simply put, you need people to get ahead.
You can't solve every problem alone. Having peers in the industry can help keep you in the know of new career opportunities before they are public knowledge. Peers can even land you referrals.
Not to mention that having a supportive community of people is scientifically proven to benefit your overall quality of life. It's important to be surrounded by peers who understand your unique set of responsibilities and routines. Having a group of colleagues you regularly check-in with also helps you stay on top of your professional game. It helps keep you focused on always improving your skillset.
Do you need to find your healthcare tribe to elevate your career or get your foot in the door? Join the best social media sites for healthcare!
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