Dr. Bhatt on the potential for social media interventions in urology

In this video, Nikita R. Bhatt, MBBS, MCh, MMed, FRCS, discusses social media interventions and how they can be utilized in urology, which was highlighted in the publication, “Social media interventions for patients and public: Opportunities and challenges for the urology community." Bhatt is a urology resident at Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital in the United Kingdom.

Video Transcript:

So, this has never been done in urology. What a social media intervention essentially is defined as is there has to be a 2-way interaction. So, there has to be a health care professional or an expert at one end, and then you have a patient at the opposite end. The patient should have the opportunity to interact with the health care professional. It's been done in the world of health behavior changes and the world of medicine. For example, diabetes, and obesity have used this quite a lot. They also utilize the power of people helping each other. So, patients helping each other, for example, [through] Facebook groups, Instagram groups, Twitter, or Threads, where patients interact with the health care professionals, but also support each other. There are different exercises where they are meant to go away and do something and they are monitored, and they come back and see if there's a difference. They support each other through that process.

So far, all the studies have shown quite positive results with this approach. It's something that we can use in urology in a lot of different things. The applications are endless. You could use it for weight loss reduction before surgery for different cancers [where] a risk factor is obesity, for example. You can use it for smoking for bladder cancer. You can use it for pelvic floor exercises and continence therapy for people suffering with incontinence. So, the applications are literally limitless. It's about making sure that you have the right social media intervention for the right issue. The best way to do that is by ensuring you have patients involved in creating that, and your patient office involved in making sure that you've created something that patients will find useful and interact with.

This transcription has been edited for clarity.