Fun, songs – and lots of facts to combat myths
DOCTORS BECOME SOCIAL MEDIA STARS
MANY of us now rely on our smartphones and social media apps to look up information, especially when it comes to our health and the pandemic.
It can be difficult to know whose advice to take and how to know if they’re trustworthy.
But two Nottingham doctors have been using their social media accounts to help out – and they’ve grown quite a following.
Dr Ethan Smallwood, who completed his medical training at the University of Nottingham this year, has amassed nearly half a million followers between his Instagram, Tiktok and Youtube accounts.
The 23 year-old wasn’t a fan of social media before going off to university in 2016 but decided that signing up would be a good way to document his medical training.
“If I was going to have social media accounts I decided to try to make them useful for others, so in the beginning I would share my experience of being a medical student and give tips and advice on what it’s like and what to avoid.”
Soon Ethan – @Drethan on his social accounts – began to attract hundreds of followers but it wasn’t until he started sharing advice on common medical conditions that his profile soared.
“I started to put up short, informative videos on things like how to cure hiccups and how to clear a blocked nose and they really caught on.
“I think these are the types of things that people are often searching for online so they seemed to find my videos useful and I thought this would be a good way to help share the knowledge I was learning.”
Last year Ethan’s Tiktok videos were gaining around half a million views, with followers asking him for specific advice.
“I think one of my most viewed ones was on the subject of whether cracking your knuckles gives you arthritis and people just seemed to really respond to videos on topical medical issues and short, punchy facts.”
By the time the pandemic hit in March 2020 Dr Ethan had grown a healthy following, but his informative videos on the pandemic and Covid-19 vaccines have really seen his profile rocket, with 187K followers on Instagram and a huge 3.2 million likes on Tiktok.
Ethan has done Q&A videos on the vaccines, given regular updates on the global pandemic and dispelled myths and rumours about symptoms and impact of the virus.
Ethan’s accounts are also packed with fun but informative videos on topics such as “why laughing 100 times is 15 mins of exercise”, “the organ we don’t know about” and “what happens if we eat our own snot?”.
“Some of my videos are serious and some have more of a fun feeling but they are all factual and that’s important,” explains Ethan, who spent five years living in Lenton while completing his training.
“I want to make what I’m doing fun and interactive and combat the types of barriers that make some people scared to speak up and see a doctor.
“I think through social media, doctors can make themselves more relatable and people can understand better that we’re just human and totally approachable.
“There’s a lot of misinformation out there and I want to combat it with research-based evidence. I’ll never give personalised advice online but my videos can point people to the right information when it’s needed.”
The pandemic hit Ethan’s final year and he saw first-hand the pressures on the NHS. During his time at university, he worked at the Queen’s Medical Centre, Nottingham City Hospital, the Royal Derby and Kingsmill hospital in Sutton-in-ashfield.
And he’s not alone when it comes to using social media to get important messages across.
Another Nottingham doctor found online fame when he took to his social media account with his “stay at home” message.
Dr Jamie Parker, who works at a GP surgery in Wollaton, performed his own version of Disney’s Let It Go from Frozen – changing the words to reflect the sate of the nation at that time and urging people to “Stay at home” rather than “Let it Go”.
His video – shared initially on his Twitter account @ Drjamieparker – amassed over 100,000 views in a weekend blast year. The singing doctor, 40, took to his piano to after being dismayed by people not taking the “stay at home” rules seriously. Since then, Dr Parker has gone on to share information and facts about the pandemic and the vaccines to his hundreds of thousands of followers.
“Before the pandemic I didn’t even have any social media accounts,” says Dr Parker “But I made the Stay At Home video and friends urged me to get it out there via social media so I did and it just grew from there.
“I think, to date, it’s had something like 170,000 Tiktok likes and millions of views. Off the back of that I’ve been able to go into schools and was recently at my local Middleton Primary where I talked with year 6 kids about the vaccines and they made posters to promote the uptake.”
Dr Parker has built up 1.4 million likes on Tiktok, with his videos also debunking vaccine myths and giving facts and information, with video titles including “Can you mix and match the vaccines?”, “5 most common side effects after the vaccine” and other adapted song renditions such as “Have Your Jab For Good” in place of Take That’s Back For Good.
“Social media can be a great tool when used wisely for getting information out to people. I’ve been really pleased when people have told me they’ve taken the jab up after seeing my Tiktoks,” says Dr Parker.
He has gone on to work with an organisation called Project Halo, which uses the hasthtag #Teamhalo online and is a group of scientists and healthcare professionals from around the world working to end the pandemic by volunteering their time to address Covid-19 vaccine concerns and misinformation.
“I have had a break from social media recently and I think it’s just as responsible for me to say that I absolutely believe it is a force for good and can help deliver information, but it must be used in the right way.
“It can become all consuming and with a very demanding job and a busy family life I have had to step back a little, but that’s not to say I won’t be returning. Instead I am working with Project Halo, providing expert advice and giving my time via social media that way, for now,”
“The team’s videos regarding vaccine confidence have received 100 million views and counting which is just great. as there is still a lot of work to do globally.”
In the meantime Dr Smallwood is still sharing his videos to his own hundreds of thousands of followers and has even recently revealed that he has completed a course to become a personal trainer to help bolster his advice around fitness – but he did reassure his followers he’s still very much a doctor.
He is currently completing a placement in a busy A&E department and his followers can keep up to date with his progress.
People seemed to really respond to short, punchy facts
Dr Ethan Smallwood