Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2021 Jan 30;3(1):e199-e204.
doi: 10.1016/j.asmr.2020.09.010. eCollection 2021 Feb.

Fellowship Training Is a Significant Predictor of Sports Medicine Physician Social Media Presence

Brian LaGrant  1 , Sergio M Navarro  2 , Jacob Becker  3 , Hashim Shaikh  4 , Irvin Sulapas  5 , Theodore B Shybut  5
Affiliations

Fellowship Training Is a Significant Predictor of Sports Medicine Physician Social Media Presence

Brian LaGrant et al. Arthrosc Sports Med Rehabil. .

Abstract

Purpose: To quantify social media use of professional sports team physicians on popular platforms and analyze differences between users and nonusers.

Methods: Team physicians for professional sports teams in the National Football League, National Hockey League, Major League Baseball, and National Basketball Association were identified and characterized based on training background, practice setting, and geographic location. Rates of social media presence on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, and ResearchGate were determined. Differences between social media users and nonusers were analyzed.

Results: In total, 505 professional team physicians were identified across 4 major professional sports; 64.6% of physicians were orthopaedic surgeons. Of 505 physicians, 65.7% had a social media presence. More specifically, 21.8% had a professional Facebook page, 22.6% a professional Twitter page, 52.1% a LinkedIn profile, 21.4% a ResearchGate profile, and 9.1% an Instagram account. Fellowship-trained physicians (P = .008) had greater odds of having a social media presence.

Conclusions: Nearly two-thirds of professional team physicians have a social media presence, most commonly LinkedIn. Fellowship training is a significant predictor of sports medicine physician social media presence. Sports league affiliation, training background, practice setting, and geographic location are unrelated to social media presence.

Level of evidence: IV, cross-sectional study.

PubMed Disclaimer

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

References

    1. Amante D.J., Hogan T.P., Pagoto S.L., English T.M., Lapane K.L. Access to care and use of the internet to search for health information: Results from the US National Health Interview Survey. J Med Internet Res. 2015;17:e106. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Antheunis M., Tates K., Nieboer T. Patients’ and health professionals’ use of social media in health care: Motives, barriers and expectations. Patient Educ Couns. 2013;92:426–431. - PubMed
    1. Cooper C., Gelb C., Rim S., Hawkins N., Rodriguez J., Polonec L. Physicians who use social media and other internet-based communication technologies. J Am Med Inform Assoc. 2012;19:960–964. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Montemurro P., Porcnik A., Hedén P., Otte M. The influence of social media and easily accessible online information on the aesthetic plastic surgery practice: Literature review and our own experience. Aesthetic Plast Surg. 2015;39:270–277. - PubMed
    1. Modahl M., Tompsett L., Moorhead T. Doctors, Patients & Social Media. http://www.quantiamd.com/q-qcp/social_media.pdf. 2011:1-16

LinkOut - more resources