title: Integrating Social Media into Urologic Health care: What Can We Learn from Other Disciplines?
abstract: Social media (SoMe) have become an integral part in many aspects of personal and professional life. With current uptake rates of 50-70% among urologists, SoMe platforms merit huge potential for dissemination of information and professional exchange among stakeholders in urology. Application of SoMe includes conference conversations via tweet chats, health education via YouTube videos, and Twitter online journal clubs. In addition, a number of urology journals have embraced SoMe to allow rapid dissemination of their content and engagement with their readers. Guidance for the appropriate use of SoMe is provided to urologists by several organizations. Besides urology, other disciplines have adopted SoMe for a variety of areas: continuing professional development, awareness of rare diseases, recruitment of study participants, patient education and support, and publicizing research. Openness to new approaches is the basic prerequisite for a transfer of successful concepts embraced by other specialties, to the field of urology.
authors.affiliation: Department of Urology, St.-Josefs-Hospital Dortmund, Wilhelm-Schmidt-Str. 4, 44263, Dortmund, Germany. johannes.salem@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Johannes
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Salem
authors.affiliation: Department of Urology, University Hospital Frankfurt, Theodor-Stern-Kai 7, 60590, Frankfurt, Germany. borgmann.hendrik@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Hendrik
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Borgmann
authors.affiliation: Division of Cancer Surgery, Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre, University of Melbourne, St Andrews Place, East, Melbourne, VIC, 3002, Australia. declan.murphy@petermac.org.|Division of Cancer Surgery, Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre, 4 Erin Street, Richmond, Victoria, 3121, Australia. declan.murphy@petermac.org.
authors.forename: Declan G
authors.initials: DG
authors.lastname: Murphy
mesh_terms: D003695:Delivery of Health Care; D006801:Humans; D007674:Kidney Diseases; D061108:Social Media
keywords: Facebook; New media; Social media; Twitter; Urology; Web 2.0