Abstract
Objective:
Social media is a novel tool that many parents turn to when looking for a new healthcare provider. The purpose of this study is to assess how parents of children attending a pediatric otolaryngology practice engage with social media.
Study Design:
Survey
Setting:
Two pediatric otolaryngology clinics associated with a tertiary care children’s hospital in Buffalo, NY.
Methods:
Parents of children aged <18 years were surveyed. The survey consisted of 25 questions divided into 5 categories: demographics, social media accounts, social media use, use of social media to interact with pediatric otolaryngologists, and perception of pediatric otolaryngologists’ social media accounts. Frequencies were calculated.
Results:
Three hundred five parent participants were included. 247 (81.0) were female and 57 (18.97) were male. 258 (84.6%) of the participants reported use of Facebook, which was the most popular social media platform. 238 (78.0%) of participants indicated that they would want to see medical posts and 98 (32.1%) participants indicated that they would want to see personal posts on the pediatric otolaryngologist’s social media page. Younger parents were statistically more likely to check social media more often (P = .001) and seek a pediatric otolaryngologist’s social media before seeing them (P = .018).
Conclusion:
Use of social media by pediatric otolaryngologists may positively impact the way a small percentage of their patients’ parents perceive them. Social media accounts do not appear to be a vital part of pediatric otolaryngology practice in 2022.
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