When doctors become health influencers

Their accounts go straight to the point: @mon.gyneco, @le_Geriatre or @dr.ducoeur. They are doctors – general practitioners, geriatricians, gynecologists … – or healthcare professionals – physiotherapists, nurses, dentists … They practice in office and in the hospital. But also on social networks, where they now attract thousands of subscribers. Even millions, such as @mon.gyneco-alias Dr Olivier Marpeau, gynecologist-obstetrician near Aix-en-Provence (Bouches-du-Rhône), baptized “the gyneco number 1 of the networks”.

Made famous by his videos “The question of my girl” on Instagram, he is preparing to cross the milestone of the million subscribers on this network. In early 2023, he was even asked by Emmanuel Macron to support the papillomavirus vaccination campaign. His last idea, “the minute gynec’hommes”, explains female medical issues to men. Well in tune with the times, she is a hit.

If these experienced practitioners have invested the web, it is because medical information is more and more abundant, but also often not very rigorous. On the Internet is a faras of accounts held by influencers without any medical competence, praising diets and doubtful products. Dark chocolate could treat depression, certain foods would promote the birth of a boy or a girl, it would be possible to eradicate skin cancer by practicing intermittent fasting …

Some Internet users are displayed “nutrition advice”, “shrink and trainer”, “health teacher” … content creators invite more than dangerous challenges – at the moment, being the leanth possible. Derapes particularly affecting mental health and cosmetic surgery.

Put science to the center

The French are like everyone else: if they continue to trust their doctor (40 %), they turn more and more often to social networks to complete their information. They are 14 % to Come Facebook “often” or “very often”; They also appreciate Youtube (10.5 %) and Instagram (9 %) (1). Without being fooled, since almost one in two surveyers said that it has already been faced with false medical information. They were only 37 % in 2019 (2).

Obviously, when it takes several months to get an appointment with a general practitioner in a medical desert, it is tempting to want to settle your health concern in a few clicks. A fortiori when the consultation we have obtained is shipped due to the frantic work pace of caregivers. “At best, women see their gynecologist once a year, and often no more than twenty minutes,” notes Olivier Marpeau. They no longer have time to ask questions. »»

In the current context of distrust of science, one can also be tempted to seek on the internet “alternative” information, that is to say presented as “true”, as opposed to official data, suspected, they are biased. “The pandemic had an amplifier effect: the doctors were not unanimous, which fueled the distrust of certain French people,” notes Dr Gérald Kierzek, emergency doctor and columnist in several programs (3).

The link between social networks and doubts about scientific sources is clear: those who learn about health via YouTube are 2.9 times more numerous than the others (29 % against 10 %) to have already given up medical treatment in favor of other therapy. And Tiktok followers, 2.7 times more (51 % against 19 %) to have already refused a vaccine (excluding COVID) recommended by a doctor (1).

It was urgent to restore certain truths and to circulate a word based on scientific arguments. “Debunker”: this is how we call the activity of tracking down the fake information and deceptions on the web. Winner of a prize in the National Academy of Medicine for her popularization work on social networks, Laure Geisler, alias @Lecoeurnet.info, did her workhorse. This general practitioner, displaying 205,000 subscribers on Tiktok and 81,500 on Instagram, is sometimes asked by health organizations. “Our training has accustomed us to identify and digest scientific studies, then make them accessible, with rigor,” she said. Of course, the title of doctor does not protect against certain abuses.

“We may be dealing with someone who has not defended a thesis – and who, in real life, could not therefore exercise -, to a non -supervised student …” notes Dr Gérald Kierzek. However, the accounts of therapists identified as such are required to respect strict rules. Like all influencers, practitioners are subject to the law of June 9, 2023, which aims to “supervise commercial influence and to fight against drifts”. They are mainly held by their professional ethics.

“Doctors, dental surgeons or midwives must respect on the networks the rules of the code of ethics of their profession, under penalty of being canceled”, explains Dr. Claire Siret, president of the public health section of the order of doctors, who specifies: “no individual consultations, respect for medical secrecy, no advertising, no specific cases, no promotion of a product or a substitutable therapeutic An existing treatment… ”Last January, these rules were even reinforced by the signing of a“ charter of creators of responsible content ”between the order of doctors and YouTube.

Touch new audiences

Well used, social networks obviously have their interest: they make it possible to clarify subjects and to convey prevention messages. Cardiologist in Aix-en-Provence, Virginie Marchal, alias @dr.ducoeur, arrived on the networks to denounce the administrative hassles of health professionals. But it quickly measured the growing demand for patient explanations.

“In the office, cardiologists have time to take an interest in what is serious. Everything that is not, but could become one day, goes on the hatch, “she testifies. With a big smile and a lot of humor, she now focuses her videos on the prevention of heart accidents and dismantles a lot of received ideas. “I receive 20 to 30 patients in one day in the office, while my lifestyle videos affect 1,000 to 2,000 people on Instagram. »»

The networks also offer a more familiar and lighter communication mode than the sometimes somewhat distant vis-à-vis a consultation room. Dr. Bruno Oquendo, a young hospital practitioner in geriatrics (4) – 76,800 subscribers on Instagram where he appears as @le_Geriatre – “Dramatizes” his specialty: “I want to show that in geriatrics, we talk a lot about years earned. He issues recommendations to improve lifestyle and prevent accidents.

Finally, the web also affects audiences that hardly frequent waiting rooms. Like young people, hyperpresent on Tiktok or Twitch. However, it is also those who are doing the most badly in terms of mental health, who consult the least and who are the least experienced in terms of health advice. They find doctors on the internet with a familiar tone, without white coat and chest humor. In short, there are health influencers as well as the rest: they can be perfectly worthy of confidence, provided they prove their competence.

1. Descartes Foundation study, 2023.
2. Verian-Harmonie Health/Inserm survey, 2024.
3. Author of Your health in the world after (Ed. Litos)
4. Author of My parents age (Ed. Vuibert).