Social media significantly influences health beliefs and decisions for 90% of Americans, often leading to misinformation.
Richard W. Miller, MD, highlights the need for effective communication with patients influenced by social media misinformation.
Physicians should manage patient frustration and guide them towards accurate health information and appropriate treatments.

Richard W. Miller, MD, discusses the best ways to handle conversations about treatment options with patients who consume misinformation online.

An estimated 90% of Americans use social media as a source to obtain valuable health information, including searchers related to serious medical conditions, general health information searches and searches for minor health concerns. Information gathered from social media can go on to influence a person's health beliefs, behaviors and decisions regarding when and where to seek health care.

In an exclusive Medical Economics interview, Richard W. Miller, MD, a psychiatrist with Elwyn Adult Behavioral Health in East Greenwich, Rhode Island, talked about the best ways to approach conversations with patients who have consumed misinformation on social media. Miller discussed what to do when patients request inappropriate treatment options based on what they might've read online, how to handle a conversation with a patient who becomes frustrated and what physicians can do to ensure patients are well-educated, in spite of social media's influence.