Social media use by cardiovascular healthcare professionals in Portugal

Autores da FMUP

• Ricardo Manuel Alves Monteiro Fontes De Carvalho

  Autor

• Ricardo José Araújo Ladeiras Lopes

  Autor

Participantes de fora da FMUP

• Esteves-Pereira, M
• Ferreira, D
• Guerreiro, C
• Oliveira-Santos, M

Unidades de investigação

• Cirurgia e Fisiologia

• Laboratório Associado RISE- Rede de Investigação em Saúde

  

  Investigador

  Fernando Carlos De Landér Schmitt

• RISE-Health

  

  Investigador

  Fernando Carlos De Landér Schmitt

Abstract

Introduction and objectives: Social media (SoMe) has a flourishing role in cardiovascular (CV) medicine as a facilitator of academic communication not only during conferences and con-gresses, but also by scientific societies and journals. However, there is no solid data illustrating the use of SoMe by CV healthcare professionals (CVHP) in Portugal.Hence, the main goal of this national cross-sectional survey was to accurately characterize SoMe use by Portuguese CVHPs.Methods: A 35-item questionnaire was specifically developed for this study, approved by the Digital Health Study Group of the Portuguese Society of Cardiology (SPC), and sent, by e-mail, to the mailing list of the SPC (including 1293 potential recipients).Results and conclusion: There were 206 valid answers. Fifty-two percent of respondents were female and 58% were younger than 44 years of age with almost two out of three participants being physicians. Ninety-two percent of the survey participants reported that they are currently using SoMe; LinkedIn was the most common platform used for professional purposes. Sixty-four percent believed SoMe had had a positive impact on their clinical practice; 77% and 49% had used SoMe for acquiring and sharing information related to COVID-19, respectively.In conclusion, the majority of Portuguese CVHPs that participated in this survey are actively using SoMe, with a greater participation of those <45 years of age; its clinical impact is positive, with a leading role in the dissemination of evidence during the COVID pandemic.(c) 2023 Sociedade Portuguesa de Cardiologia. Published by Elsevier Espan similar to a, S.L.U. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).

Keywords

• Digital health; Social media; Cardiovascular medicine; Cardiovascular research; e-Cardiology; Virtual communities; Cardiovascular healthcare professionals; COVID-19; Cross-sectional survey