Potential benefit and harm of social media and predatory publishing: a commentary on “Antibiotic-treated acute appendicitis—reception in social media”

Excerpt

We live in an exciting, ever-changing, electronic era of constant and instant communication that has potential for rapid sharing of information and the possibility of widespread dissemination of a breadth of educational material: but also, this incredible ability to share information allows the very real possibility of an unquantifiable risk of the rapid, or “viral spread,” of misinformation. This so-called, fake news, and non-regulated, non-validated missives from self-proclaimed experts can do more harm than good in our medical world. In the USA, we live with a barrage of Twitter communications (Tweets) from our President, who uses Twitter to “take his message to the public.” Indeed, when used appropriately, these media outlets can in theory advance communication by permitting affirmative or dissenting responses. Unfortunately, these social media outlets are too often abused by many at the expense of far too many well-meaning people, such as the embarrassing Tweets from our President humiliating and belittling others for his political gain. Not surprisingly, these behaviors have infiltrated the medical field, as evidenced by individuals or groups (yes and often physicians themselves) who market their own “ideas” and “practices” void of any evidence-based data for their self-aggrandizement and, possibly, at the expense of the patients and their families. This paper by Reinisch et al. [1], from the University Hospital of Giessen and the Hospital and Clinics Wetzlar, Germany, which is published in this issue of Langenbeck’s Archives of Surgery [LAS-D-18-00488R1, ahead of print], investigated the potential impact of Twitter on the public opinion of the somewhat more obtuse topic of the non-operative, antibiotic-based treatment of appendicitis by evaluating the information provided through Twitter hashtags. Interestingly (and encouragingly), a large majority of such tweets did not support an overly biased support of or lack of support for this treatment; indeed, the majority described the non-operative, antibiotic-treatment of acute appendicitis as a viable treatment option, some a bit more positively and some a bit more negatively than others, but at least the message was not overly biased. Undeniably, in other more socially conscious topics, there have always been self-proclaimed (non-medically trained) “experts” who profess a deep knowledge of the appropriate type of medical care based on their own beliefs and alleged experience. But, today, the ability to disseminate these unfounded opinions and personal beliefs based on no formal, validated, or evidence-based data is frightening to us in the medical field. Unless the data are validated, screened, or confirmed for accuracy (especially in fields like medicine where inaccurate or downright incorrect or misleading data can lead to serious and avoidable consequences), the misinformation can prove extremely harmful. Conversely, an outstanding, constructive, and positive use of social media is exemplified by selected surgical groups who have used Twitter to improve educational activities to very rapidly disseminate educational information and support to their patients. The challenge for us as responsible representatives of our profession is to leverage some form of control of these platforms of social media to ensure fair, educational, and evidence-based dissemination of information. …