Last weekend I spoke for our local Sport and Exercise Medicine coordinating body – SportMedBC. Its mandate is to coordinate education and advocate for all the various professions that make up our diverse community. Interestingly, they chose to focus on the role of social media in sports medicine.

Then on Tuesday I was alerted to Scientific American’s take on the issue. How did I come across the article? via Twitter. Thanks @NerdyChristie and good luck with your PhD studies in Hawaii.

The tweet immediately after reinforced the emergence of social media. It was provocatively titled ‘to those still in denial…‘

The significance of social media for clinicians and healthcare practitioners is both a timely and ongoing topic of interest. In April, BMJ’s Fiona Pathiraja wrote, Twitter – the medium and the message? an informative and practical article on using Twitter for healthcare purposes (follow her @Dr_Fiona). The public conversation about social media and science is hotting up and is going to get a lot hotter – this train is not slowing down!

You can find highlights from the SportMedBC Annual General Meeting and Conference here. Similar topics may be relevant for workshops at other sports medicine conferences that have small group breakouts/workshops. For example,

• Room 1 – shoulder exam.
• Room 2 – practical ultrasound skills in the office.
• Room 3 – how to get the most from social media.

Getting back to Scientific American/NerdyChristie  [interesting how those two sides of the same coin have different ‘brand associations’] – here’s her terrific closing quote from Alan Alda (M*A*S*H fame)…

Alan Alda said it perfectly when he asked,

“if scientists could communicate more in their own voices—in a familiar tone, with a less specialized vocabulary—would a wide range of people understand them better? Would their work be better understood by the general public, policy-makers, funders, and, even in some cases, other scientists?”

That’s a rhetorical question!