Social Media Posts by Foot and Ankle Medical Device Companies and their Impact on Opinions and Trust of Patients vs Physicians

Category: Other Introduction/Purpose: Social media is popular as society’s means of communicating and obtaining information. The purpose of this study was to show a series of recent foot and ankle social media posts to patients, orthopaedic surgery trainees and orthopaedic foot and ankle surgeons. For patients, our goal was to explore whether patients use these posts to inform their medical decisions and whether these medical device posts are a source of education for patients. For the orthopaedic foot and ankle surgeons and orthopaedic surgery trainees, we wondered whether residents and attendings found the posts medically accurate. We hypothesized that patients would not use the social media posts as a source of medical information. We also hypothesized that orthopaedic surgeons would not think that the posts were medically accurate. Methods: To accomplish this, we compiled foot and ankle related social media posts from several companies on LinkedIn from October 2022-October 2023. Patients, orthopaedic surgery residents and attendings were then shown these posts. Patients, residents and attendings completed surveys on their thoughts on the posts. Patients were asked whether they understood why products were being used based on the posts, how much they learned about foot and ankle conditions, how likely they were to ask their surgeon about the devices posted and whether they felt the posts give them honest information. Residents and attendings were also asked to grade the quality of the posts, based on history provided, pre-operative and post-operative x-rays and decision-making rationale provided. Surveys were graded on a 1-10 scale. Mann-Whitney U test and Chi square tests were used to analyze the survey results. P < 0.05 was the cut off for significance. Results: For orthopaedic surgery residents and attendings, 50% felt that the posts were medically accurate and that 60% of the posts seem medically indicated for the procedure described. There were no significant differences in social media usage, awareness of medical device company social media and interest in foot and ankle social media between patients greater or less than 45 years old. Patients < 45 years old and >45 years old did not differ when asked whether they understood why products were used based on the posts (p = 0.21). However, patients < 45 years old learned more from the posts than patients >45 years old (p = 0.04). Conclusion: Overall, orthopedic surgery residents and attendings did not find the medical device posts to be medically accurate and felt that the posts lacked information. Similarly, patients gave the posts low scores in terms of understanding why the devices were being used and this did not differ by patient age. However, patients < 45 years old learned more from the posts, perhaps indicating a generational difference on attitude towards social media. The results can contribute towards designing guidelines for social media posts by medical device companies to improve the public and medical community’s trust.