Abstract
In the face of the rapid evolution of the COVID-19 pandemic, healthcare professionals on the frontline are in urgent need of frequent updates in the accomplishment of their practice. Hence, clinicians started to search for prompt, valid information on sources that are parallel to academic journals. Aim of this work is to investigate the extent of this phenomenon. We administered an anonymous online cross-sectional survey to 645 Italian clinicians. Target of the survey were all medical figures potentially involved in the management of COVID-19 cases. 369 questionnaires were returned. 19.5% (n = 72) of respondents were younger than 30 years-old; 49,3% (n = 182) worked in Infectious Diseases, Internal Medicine or Respiratory Medicine departments, 11.5% (n = 42) in Intensive Care Unit and 7.4% (n = 27) were general practitioner. 70% (n = 261) of respondents reported that their use of social media to seek medical information increased during the pandemic. 39.3% (n = 145) consistently consulted Facebook groups and 53.1% (n = 196) Whatsapp chats. 47% (n = 174) of respondents reported that information shared on social media had a consistent impact on their daily practice. In the present study, we found no difference in social media usage between age groups or medical specialties. Given the urgent need for scientific update during the present pandemic, these findings may help understanding how clinicians access new evidences and implement them in their daily practice.
Highlights
In order to investigate to what extent clinicians are seeking and using information coming from social media, or other sources that are parallel to the scientific literature, we designed an anonymous, voluntary questionnaire on SurveyMonkey
The questionnaire was built as a nationwide, cross-sectional survey, targeting all medical figures potentially involved in the management of COVID-19 cases
Studies conducted during the COVID-19 pandemic showed that the rate of tweets with false or unverifiable contents may be as high as 24% [16]
Summary
It was said that a worrying number of cases of pulmonary thromboembolism was being reported. This was a new and previously unknown observation. R. came back to the ward where Mr A, a previously healthy man in his fifties, currently recovering after a mild pneumonia due to SARS-CoV-2, was about to be discharged. He complained of a mild, yet worsening dyspnea and a lumbar pain. Keeping the recent meeting in mind, we decided to request a chest CT scan, that revealed massive pulmonary thromboembolism. To what extent the recent informal communication accelerated the diagnosis is difficult to define
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
