Rheumatology Pearls from Twitter - Really? Save

Twitter?  Really?  

To many of my colleagues (admitted Luddites) the mere mention of Twitter results in the “omi-god 360” eye roll with an accompanying snide comment. To them Twitter, Facebook and all other forms of social media are soapbox forums for the unknowing, propounding the unimportant or unthinkable to an audience of unaccountable unmentionables. Isn’t Twitter an endless tickertape of irrelevant tidbits? Doesn’t the 140 character limit suit the Tourette-blurting egomaniacs amongst us?

Despite similar doubts and trepidations and after examining its use amongst medical types, I decided to give it a try with a single focus in mind: to daily tweet the answer to a rheumatology test question, a pearl or key study results. With nearly 30 years of teaching rheumatology, I thought the content and words should be easy to come by.

I started in late 2012 and have had numerous trainees and young rheumatologists pronounce that my Twitter feed has helped them prepare for their careers. With such encouragement, I forged ahead and @RheumNow (my Twitter handle) has since sent 2000 tweets and gained nearly 2000 followers. Who are these tuned-in followers?  I don’t know for sure, but I can say that for about two weeks I was followed by @LadyGaga (not the real one). I do know there are many trainees, young and old rheumatologists, health professionals, pharma folks, medical societies, publishers and patients in that mix.  

I’m proud to be amongst a group of talented and forward-thinking rheumatologists who regularly tweet about  rheumatology – its advances, practice issues, pearls, controversies, etc.  I once tweeted about the results of a Cochrane review of folic acid use and was surprised to watch a three-day Twitter discussion about how varied rheumatologists are worldwide with regard to folate use with methotrexate.

The following is a top 10 list of my tweets and a short comment on why these may have risen to the top. Engagement by the readership may have been based on the topic, insight, accompanying figure or picture.  

How you use Twitter or what you write is up to you. Dr. Ronan Kavanagh (@ronankavanagh) said, “The act of distilling the essence of a paper into 140 characters knowing it’s to be read by colleagues focuses the mind like nothing else!”. While I try to stick with news, information and medical education, I sometimes inspire others (or is it myself?) with:

• “Idealism and cynicism are easy. It's negotiating the in-between that's difficult, interesting and worthwhile.”

• “Never overestimate your power to change others 0R underestimate your power to change yourself. Winners do what losers don’t want to.”

• “Tis risky to base practice on anecdotalism, wiki- or google-medicine when evidence exists in the form of randomized clinical trials.”

You should sign up for Twitter and let your influence shine while learning from others. It’s easy: choose a name (handle) and you can start to follow the musings and teachings of few or many. Next, you can choose to teach and share or learn and watch others.

Follow me (@RheumNow) as I remain committed to providing good info to make good rheumatologists better.  Other rheumatologists who you should follow include @RonanTKavanagh, @PhilipGardiner, @doctorakerkar, @philipcrobinson, @ronfvv (Ron van Vollenhoven), @jesdaile (John Esdaile), @ProfDavidHunter, @HausmannMD (Jon Hausmann), @drhectorchinoy, @EDRosten (Eliot Rosenstein), @HaniElgabalawy, @DrBhana, @DrAiLynTan, @RWCSmtg (Artie Kavanaugh),  @Rheummd (Steve Paget), @alvinwellsmd, @Dr_Noe_Olvera, @JointMD (Eric Ruderman), @psufka (paul Sufka) and @emartinmola (Emilio Martin Mola).

Twitter! Really!