I am not one to shy away from experimenting with social media that might not exactly fit for social work. I chronicled my time on Snapchat and seeing if it made sense for social work. It was a fun was to create content but perhaps not the best place to connect with other social workers.
Last week my curiosity got the better of me and I signed up for the popular social media platform TikTok. For those who don’t know the platform it is poplar with adolescents and young adults. Although it seems to be growing in other demographics.
Social work and other allied health professionals are certainly growing their following on twitter and instagram. The last several weeks stories of doctors and nurses using TikTok to create educational content to reach younger audiences. I first recall hearing about this a few months ago when Dr. Rose Marie Leslie created a TikTok about vaping that went viral. This was educational in nature and started a conversation around the use of TikTok to educate a younger audience about health issues. Many other doctors are now using it to create fun and engaging educational content.
Much like every social media platform you can create quick stories or snippets of information. TikTok is catchy as you can apply music, floating words, and many other special effects. Unfortunately TikTok as also become known for other allied health professionals to often mock or shame patients. Some of the ones with problematic messaging have been mocking patients who “fake” symptoms, shaming patients who don’t use “abstinence only” as means to stop STD’s, and mocking mentally ill patients in the ED.
Focusing on Solutions Not “Problems”
Social media is a powerful tool to create accurate and compelling content about the world around us. My week of examining TikTok from doctors and nurses reminded me of one sentence included in my social media ethics training…
Got a problem, create content about the solution.
As a social workers we often need to be “strengths-based” and “solution focused” in our messages we give to our clients. As my friend Alyssa Lotmore (co-host of “The Social Workers Radio Show”) often reminds us that when disseminating information via social media/media, the public becomes our client. We not only do we need to uphold imperative legal standards like HIPAA but we need to stand firm with the values and ethics of our respected professions.
Overall TikTok messaging can be pithy, humorous, provocative, and at times hurtful. Some of the trending TikToks were made to take jabs at certain topics. People often demonstrate their objections to people, places, or things. Information in quick bursts can show juxtapositions that sometimes are humorous but also can be hurtful when directed at individuals or groups of people. However taking “jabs” at our patients is never OK. If you are going to use it for healthcare, the typical messaging or norms of TikTok need to be challenged.
I am not arguing against medical professionals using TikTok. Licensed allied health professionals can create important content that matters but they should be able to do that without violating the ethics and values of their profession. We can demonstrate how things with in the healthcare system just don’t make sense. As professionals we can take “jabs” at the things that annoy us but we need to focus on the solutions. Also we have knowledge that others don’t and sometimes highlighting that is just as important.
We can re-imagine solutions and educational materials in a fun and create way. We shouldn’t be taking personal jabs about our patients but perhaps taking jabs at the systems that MIGHT have lead to the patient feeling that way. If we can’t do that without respecting patient dignity and choice, we probably should not be creating it at all. For instance rather then mocking patients in the emergency room use our expertise to highlight how we can make it better.
My TikTok Allied Health Rules:
- Use your expertise to make engaging content about evidence based practices.
- Got a problem, create content about the solution.
- Continue to preserve the dignity and worth of your patient.
- Have fun
- ….And did I mention don’t shame patients
Yes the messages on TikTok can highlight our discomfort with certain people, places or things but as licensed professionals we shouldn’t create those messages at the expense of our patients and our ethical principles.
You can follow me on TikTok @stuckonsw and also check out the hashtag #TikTokDocs to see those who are attempting to educate and focusing on solutions.
