Edwin Kruys about Travel Medicine

Why Twitter Can Be Useful In Travel Medicine

Twitter is a great source of medical and health information. Yes I know, this may sound obvious but many medical professionals are unfamiliar with the benefits of social media and I still hear lots of misconceptions - like “Twitter is just for chitchat”.

Twitter has proven itself as the go-to service in emergencies like earthquakes, floods and bushfires, and in that perspective it’s odd that in the quickly changing field of travel medicine, Twitter has not yet been discovered on a large scale.

So who are on Twitter? Here are some random examples of organisations that I know tweet about global health topics:

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: @CDCgov
World Health Organisation: @whonews
The UK National Travel Health Network and Centre: @NaTHNaC
UK Foreign Office: @fcotravel
United Nations: @UN_News_Centre
Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine: @LSTMnews
Tropical Medicine & International Health: @TropMed_IntHlth
Doctors Without Borders: @MSF_USA

Social media are not the right place to discuss patient cases. The closed ISTM email listserv is an example of an appropriate forum for privacy sensitive information exchange.

For information about disease outbreaks, the latest research, health conference updates, and travel health tips, the real-time Twitter service is useful.

PRINT THIS POST WORDS: Notes: 2 5/22/11 — 10:32pm Short URL: http://tmblr.co/ZpP_Tx5LfG7t Filed under: #travel medicine #global health #twitter #social media

Thorny devil dragon lizard crossing the road in Kalbarri National Park, West Australia

High-res Notes: 2 5/22/11 — 8:48pm Short URL: http://tmblr.co/ZpP_Tx5LX59R

Your story identifies your humblest hours and your honest moments

Lolly Daskal

Notes: 1 5/22/11 — 8:41pm Short URL: http://tmblr.co/ZpP_Tx5LWdb3

The New Travel Medicine Hash: #tvlmed

For some reason there’s never really been a good Twitter hashtag for travel medicine related topics. The # symbol is used to mark keywords or topics in a tweet to categorise messages and increase the amount of people reading the message. I’m glad things have now changed. In January 2011 Sarah Kohl (@TravelReadyMD) created the #tvlmed hashtag and registered with the healthcare hashtag project (@foxpractice). Her reason to initiate #tvlmed was to promote travel medicine: via the new hashtag, travel doctors, nurses, travellers and anyone interested in travel health can share their news, information & tips. The #tvlmed Travel Medicine Daily will bundle all links and articles shared. See: http://t.co/FZyCBM4 Follow @tvlmed for daily retweets about travel medicine around the globe. We’re looking for travel medicine tweeps to participate. Just mention #tvlmed anywhere in your tweet.

PRINT THIS POST WORDS: 5/20/11 — 8:09pm Short URL: http://tmblr.co/ZpP_Tx5Hh5Jm

How To Promote A Travel Clinic On Twitter

A common mistake some travel clinics make is to send out a stream of tweets about their services. It took me a while to figure out that the most successful people on Twitter don’t just tweet their own material. They manage to be consistently valuable because the majority of their tweets are retweets from others. Twitter is all about sharing information and most people love seeing their message re-tweeted. Take some time to listen to what others have to say and tweet about the gems you find. Social media is not about advertising. It’s about giving and sharing ideas and information.

PRINT THIS POST WORDS: 5/19/11 — 3:11pm Short URL: http://tmblr.co/ZpP_Tx5Fizx6

Nobody cares how much you know, until they know how much you care.

Theodore Roosevelt

Notes: 1 5/18/11 — 9:13pm Short URL: http://tmblr.co/ZpP_Tx5E8J8Y

Sand Dunes. Midwest, West Australia. (trying out mobile Tumblr app)

High-res Notes: 1 5/18/11 — 9:11pm Short URL: http://tmblr.co/ZpP_Tx5E8Dfw

Why Telling People To Get Their Travelshots Doesn’t Work On Twitter

If I would tell someone to stop smoking, be more active, or lose weight, I already know that my words will have little effect. It takes more to change behaviour. Yet, we seem to be doing this a lot in travel medicine. Be honest: how many times have you posted a tweet or Facebook message urging people to get their travel shots? It’s not working and may result in less followers. People are following you because they know you have something to say, not because they want to be told what to do. Instead you may want to tweet about e.g. useful tips & tricks you know to stay healthy abroad, the latest travel health news or pros & cons of vaccinations.

PRINT THIS POST WORDS: Notes: 2 5/18/11 — 4:27pm Short URL: http://tmblr.co/ZpP_Tx5DwlZ5 Filed under: #travel #vaccinations