Dataset Information

Association of Social Media Presence with Online Physician Ratings and Surgical Volume Among California Urologists: Observational Study.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Urologists are increasingly using various forms of social media to promote their professional practice and attract patients. Currently, the association of social media on a urologists' practice is unknown.

Objectives

We aimed to determine whether social media presence is associated with higher online physician ratings and surgical volume among California urologists.

Methods

We sampled 195 California urologists who were rated on the ProPublica Surgeon Scorecard website. We obtained information on professional use of online social media (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, blog, and YouTube) in 2014 and defined social media presence as a binary variable (yes/no) for use of an individual platform or any platform. We collected data on online physician ratings across websites (Yelp, Healthgrades, Vitals, RateMD, and UCompareHealthcare) and calculated the mean physician ratings across all websites as an average weighted by the number of reviews. We then collected data on surgical volume for radical prostatectomy from the ProPublica Surgeon Scorecard website. We used multivariable linear regression to determine the association of social media presence with physician ratings and surgical volume.

Results

Among our sample of 195 urologists, 62 (32%) were active on some form of social media. Social media presence on any platform was associated with a slightly higher mean physician rating (? coefficient: .3; 95% CI 0.03-0.5; P=.05). However, only YouTube was associated with higher physician ratings (? coefficient: .3; 95% CI 0.2-0.5; P=.04). Social media presence on YouTube was strongly associated with increased radical prostatectomy volume (? coefficient: 7.4; 95% CI 0.3-14.5; P=.04). Social media presence on any platform was associated with increased radical prostatectomy volume (? coefficient: 7.1; 95% CI -0.7 to 14.2; P=.05).

Conclusions

Urologists' use of social media, especially YouTube, is associated with a modest increase in physician ratings and prostatectomy volume. Although a majority of urologists are not currently active on social media, patients may be more inclined to endorse and choose subspecialist urologists who post videos of their surgical technique.

SUBMITTER: Houman J

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6711043 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Publications

Association of Social Media Presence with Online Physician Ratings and Surgical Volume Among California Urologists: Observational Study.

Houman Justin J Weinberger James J Caron Ashley A Hannemann Alex A Zaliznyak Michael M Patel Devin D Moradzadeh Ariel A Daskivich Timothy J TJ

Journal of medical Internet research 20190813 8

<h4>Background</h4>Urologists are increasingly using various forms of social media to promote their professional practice and attract patients. Currently, the association of social media on a urologists' practice is unknown.<h4>Objectives</h4>We aimed to determine whether social media presence is associated with higher online physician ratings and surgical volume among California urologists.<h4>Methods</h4>We sampled 195 California urologists who were rated on the ProPublica Surgeon Scorecard we ...[more]

PMID: 31411141

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Dataset Information

Association of Social Media Presence with Online Physician Ratings and Surgical Volume Among California Urologists: Observational Study.

Background

Objectives

Methods

Results

Conclusions

Publications

Association of Social Media Presence with Online Physician Ratings and Surgical Volume Among California Urologists: Observational Study.

Similar Datasets

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