Did you think that Twitter would become mainstream medicine?

By James Joseph Rybacki, Pharm.D. 1/8/19

I wasn’t so sure when I decided to call myself Rybackiknows. Sounded pompous at first, then had a certain ring to it. Thousands of tweets later, I think of it in the same light at LinkedIn.

I remember reading “Medicine in the age of Twitter in the NY Times in 2009. At that time Pauline Chen, MD was reflective and it was noted that more than 60% of Americans went on line for medical information. Yikes.

If we jump to 2017, we find Vinay Prasad challenging his medical colleagues via Twitter and doing a righteous job of it as well. I’ve found myself roundly criticized at times, but then, if you are saying something worthwhile, this is bound to happen from time to time. Is Twitter the appropriate place for patient discussions or consultations, definitely no, but Twitter does have a place in mainstream medicine IF you manage by data and accurately quote the facts.