Social media and artificial intelligence are changing how patients seek out medical information, often shaping their expectations before they enter the exam room.
For physicians, the challenge is no longer whether patients should turn to these platforms, but how to help them distinguish credible information from potentially misleading or harmful advice.
Alon Weizer, MD, chief medical officer and senior vice president of Mount Sinai Medical Center in Miami Beach, Fla., told Becker’s that patients bringing outside information into clinical encounters can create opportunities to strengthen trust, encourage informed decision-making and reinforce physicians’ roles as trusted advisers.
Question: How do you feel about patients accessing medical information on social media? Has this impacted your relationship with patients?
Dr. Alon Weizer: Whether clinicians like patients turning to social media for health information is almost beside the point. Virtually every patient is now either actively seeking or passively encountering health information online. Our role is to help patients interpret that information in the context of their individual health and the broader evidence.
The same applies to generative AI. I actually view patients bringing this information into the clinical encounter as a positive. It creates an opportunity for an informed conversation that respects patient choice while helping them avoid ineffective, costly or potentially harmful interventions. These conversations can reinforce the role of physicians and other healthcare professionals as trusted experts and guides.
My greater concern is when patients consume health information through social media or large language models without a “sherpa” to help them navigate it, potentially resulting in delayed treatment or worsening disease.
Sometimes distrust of established healthcare is so significant that discussion will not dissuade a patient from pursuing an unproven option. In those circumstances, I remain respectful and preserve the relationship so the patient knows they can return to me if the approach they choose does not produce the desired result.
Q: What’s your approach to discussing social media-sourced medical information in the exam room?
AW: Honesty is the best policy. I try to create a safe environment where patients feel comfortable sharing what they have learned outside the exam room. That gives me an opportunity to validate what may be accurate, explain what remains uncertain from an evidence-based perspective, and put the information into the context of that patient’s health.
My goal as a physician is to make sure patients know what I know so they can make the best decisions possible. Dismissing information they have taken the time to find can quickly undermine trust.
Once that trust is established, we can have a productive conversation about guideline-directed, evidence-based care. Ultimately, my responsibility is to educate, recommend what I believe is the best course of action and respect the patient’s autonomy if they choose differently.
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