How to leverage social media to combat misinformation [PODCAST]

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“As members of the health care workforce, we must recognize the crucial role we play in influencing vaccine uptake. With the death toll over rising in the U.S., the stakes could not be higher as the final death count will hinge on how quickly we can translate the vaccine’s efficacy into real-world effectiveness through optimizing uptake. We should aim to increase vaccine uptake at ‘warp speed.’ Now is the time to harness the power of social media to combat disinformation.  Now is the time to use creative content to put an end to this pandemic. This is our lane. Will you join us in this fight?”

Emmanuel Ohuabunwa is an emergency medicine resident.

He shares his story and discusses the KevinMD article, “COVID-19 vaccine and disinformation: How health care providers can leverage social media to combat this trend.”

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Hosted by Kevin Pho, MD, The Podcast by KevinMD shares the stories of the many who intersect with our health care system but are rarely heard from.

Transcript

Kevin Pho: Hi, and welcome to the show, where we share the stories of the many who intersect with our health care system but are rarely heard from. My name is Kevin Pho, founder and editor of KevinMD.

Here on the show we have Emmanuel Ohuabunwa. He is an emergency physician, and he co-wrote the KevinMD article “COVID-19 vaccine and disinformation: How health care providers can leverage social media to combat this trend.” Emmanuel, welcome to the show.

Emmanuel Ohuabunwa: Thank you so much, Kevin. Such an honor to be here, and thank you so much for having me.

Kevin Pho: So again, the article that you co-wrote, a little bit, but first off, can you share your story and journey to where you are today?

Emmanuel Ohuabunwa: Yes, thank you so much. So I’m Emmanuel Ohuabunwa. I am a current fourth-year emergency medicine resident at Yale New Haven Health. I was born in Nigeria, and I actually grew up there. My parents were pastors; they did a lot of work and taught us about community engagement and service at a young age. I went to a military boarding school where the focus was discipline.

We moved to the U.S. when I was 13. I went to a high school for health professions, where I discovered medicine and spent a lot of time, like every summer, in the hospital just shadowing and learning so much about medicine. And then I went to Hopkins for undergrad, where I studied neuroscience and psychology, and I was fortunate to have gotten a full ride to come to Yale for medical school. I did the MD-MBA, and my focus in business school was thinking about behavioral economics and how one can use that to tackle health disparities.

I’m currently finishing up residency. I’m super duper excited to be joining the faculty at UT Southwestern in Dallas, where I’ll be doing health equity work and work related to disparities. So I’m really, really excited to be here, and thank you so much for having me.

Kevin Pho: And through your lens in the emergency department, we are speaking towards the end of April, so what exactly are you seeing, though, as it relates to the pandemic?

Emmanuel Ohuabunwa: So, definitely things are a little bit better in terms of the numbers of patients coming in with COVID. It’s been a lot better than in the heart and the craziness of the pandemic. I think it’s been way better. Numbers have fluctuated. More people are getting the vaccines, which is definitely helping.

And then the numbers of others, because during the pandemic we had a bunch of patients who didn’t come in because they were scared of COVID, and so they had various other conditions. And now they’re coming back in, which is helpful, because we don’t want people having strokes and staying at home or having heart attacks and staying at home. So we’ve been very thankful for that return of patients.

Kevin Pho: Now that we’re seeing light at the end of the proverbial tunnel, over the past year plus, what are some of the top things that you’ve learned over the past year that you want to take away from this?

Emmanuel Ohuabunwa: Oh my gosh. One is just the value of resilience. I remember I was actually working in the ICU when COVID first started, when at least we were worrying about the cases, and it was like every day there was a change of policy. “Oh my God, oh, we’re not supposed to wear regular face masks, we’re supposed to wear N95s. Oh my gosh, oh, maybe I was exposed.” Things were just changing because we were just finding out new information every day, and just trusting that things will work out at some point, and just pushing.

I think when you see a lot of death and you see a lot of people not doing well, it can be easy to feel depressed or down. I think one of the things I found that was very helpful for me was building on my support system, having like a happy wall where I put stuff that made me happy, things that made me smile, and just thinking about those things in the midst of a lot of craziness. I think those are some of the lessons I learned during that time.

Kevin Pho: So let’s transition now into the KevinMD article that you co-wrote, and it’s titled “COVID-19 vaccine and disinformation: How health care providers can leverage social media to combat this trend.” Now, I’ve been involved in the social media space for close to 20 years, and that intersection between misinformation and social media has been going on for a long time, way before COVID. So I’m definitely interested in hearing your perspective on this. So for those who didn’t read that article, can you just summarize it for my audience and share the story of why you decided to write it?

Emmanuel Ohuabunwa: It was kind of interesting. I’ve been fortunate to have a lot of mentees, people interested in medicine, business, and all of that. And one of my mentees and I, Victor Agbafe, were talking. This was in December, so Pfizer had just gotten the emergency use authorization for the Pfizer vaccine. And we were talking, and we were like, “Oh my gosh, why are we getting so much in terms of disinformation related to the vaccine?”

I talked a little bit about this in the article, where you had one picture of someone, a video of some woman getting the shot and then immediately starting to climb walls as if she was possessed, and you just see all these things and you’re like, “What can we do about this?” And so that’s where the idea was born. I was fortunate to be good friends with Dr. Onyema Ogbuagu, who is the head of the Pfizer vaccine trial and has been really, really an evangelist everywhere, Good Morning America, everywhere, just talking about the vaccine. And so we just came together and said, “Let’s see what we can do in terms of social media.”

The overall premise was that greater than 40 percent of people who are looking for health care information use social media as a source. We have such a proliferation right now of myths and disinformation related to everything related to vaccines. Physicians, and health care workers in general, have such a strong pull in increasing uptake of anything related to health. So how can we use our platforms to be able to combat the proliferation of misinformation going on?

So one of the things we talked about was the social psychology principle of social proof. This is something we learned in business school, or you learn it in an intro social psychology class. For the audience and those who might not know, it’s about how, in times when there’s uncertainty, people are more likely to do something when they see people who look like them doing it. Now, I loved how Dr. Fauci and all these important people were taking the shots and promising to do it in public. But our thought was that, especially in the African community in America and in the underserved community, they need people like us, people who they know. For example, my parents are pastors, like in the church, for example, people like us who they know, who have gotten the shots, to show that we have and to be able to listen and answer whatever questions.

So we wanted people to do an all-out blitz of pictures, of short, important content related to the vaccine, on their social media profiles, and try to combat the disinformation that was going on. So that was pretty exciting to see. At places like Yale, for example, we had the hashtag #CrushCOVID, where people would take pictures, everybody flexing their muscles in front of the banner, and just various people were doing a lot of work to combat it. So I think that was really exciting.

The next part for me after that was, how can I use that article to be able to make a difference, not just in social media, but personally? My parents used to teach us the phrase, “Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime; give a man a fish and you feed him for a day.” And so we were like, “How can we help people spot misinformation?” So I held a few of these talks at churches and things like that, where I would show a video and then point out why this was wrong or how they could have spotted this. And then I pointed them to various Instagram and Twitter and whatever profiles of people who have important information, people like you, who are always doing good work in talking about good health care information.

And there’s one, Risa Hoshino, who’s in New York, in New York public health, and a pediatrician, who has presented in such succinct and excellent ways. And so I’ll point people to these pages, because I felt like at least they can get these small nuggets of information that will help to combat this disinformation. And that’s kind of what the article was. I talked about a few other things that I’d like for the audience to read about, but that was kind of the meat of the article.

Kevin Pho: Now, over the past year during the pandemic, can you recall a time in the emergency room where you encountered a patient who received bad information that he or she may have read on social media?

Emmanuel Ohuabunwa: Oh my God, yes, like constantly. People saying that COVID, the pandemic, is a hoax. People are saying that the vaccine is a hoax. Oh my gosh, it’s pretty consistent, and it’s sad.

But at the same time, one of the things I learned during this time, and one of the lessons, you asked about lessons earlier on, was that, because we’re in a very polarized society, we’ve gotten to a point where the talk of vaccines can be a political issue. I think one of the important ways to combat this is just listening to understand as opposed to listening to correct. I think a lot of times we’re focused on listening to correct people.

And my goal and my approach was, “I’m not trying to correct anything. I’m just here to answer whatever questions you might have and give you the tools to make the right decision.” And that’s kind of the approach I had with patients. That’s the approach I had with people at my church, people all over, whoever I talk to. I know that Black people and people of color have this mistrust of health care, or whatever that’s going on, and that’s valid. But how can we make sure that we are giving the right information to people and hoping that they make the right decisions for themselves and their families?

Kevin Pho: Now, walk me through one of those patient encounters where someone comes to you with clearly false information that he or she may have read on social media, and you outline some of the techniques that you use in terms of encountering this patient. How successful were you in trying to relay proper information, and in general, what was their response to what you were doing?

Emmanuel Ohuabunwa: Hypothetical patients who come in like that, who might ask a question like that: I think one of the things would be like, “What do you think is wrong with the vaccine?” And they’re like, “Well, I heard that there were seven people who got killed, or who died, from the vaccine.” Like, “Where did you find it?” They showed me a video, and I’m like, “OK, well, look at this video. Let’s talk.”

For example, this video says “breaking news,” right? It doesn’t say any news source. I don’t know any news source in the history of the universe that would just come in and say “breaking news” and not say “breaking news, CNN,” or “breaking news, Kevin Pho, MD,” you know, “breaking news” this. So that immediately should be a question mark.

Secondly, it’s saying “the vaccine.” There are hundreds of vaccines out there that are in testing. Thankfully, there aren’t that many out there, but there are a bunch of them in testing. So if something says “the vaccine,” you should also question it and be like, “What vaccine? How did it cost seven people?” Thirdly, the voice was like an automated voice; it wasn’t a real voice. And I’m like, “And did you find this on any other news article or anything?”

So I just asked those questions, and the person was like, “Oh, no,” they looked, “No.” And I was like, “OK, so what do you think about that decision?” And they’re like, “Maybe this was false, but COVID is a hoax.” And I was like, “I kind of understand where you’re coming from, and I can understand your distrust for what’s going on, but this is the information. These are the sources for you to look at stuff, and I hope you make the right decision. I took the vaccine. If you have any questions about it, let me know.” So stuff like that was kind of the approach I had: not pushing, but just being there to offer some kind of information and hoping that people make the best decisions for themselves.

Kevin Pho: A lot of doctors and health professionals I know are a little bit apprehensive when it comes to that intersection between social media and medicine. They actually don’t see the application of Facebook or Twitter in the professional realm. So I think you bring up so many good points in terms of going online to promote proper information or correct false information. But what are some other actionable tips that you can share with other physicians who may be listening to the podcast on how they can utilize social media to help correct all that misinformation that’s out there?

Emmanuel Ohuabunwa: So, a few things. One, I recognize that I’m not a public health expert. I’m not a vaccine expert. And so I know that being a doctor, being a physician in the communities I serve, it’s easy for people to come talk to me because I’m approachable. I tend to, and learn to, push people towards the right sources and then amplify those voices. So one of my good friends, Chidi Yakusobi, does a lot of pictionaries and stuff about vaccines and in general, so any time he posts something, I would amplify that on my social media page. Any time Risa Hoshino would do something, I would amplify that.

And then also educate them myself. So, as physicians, educate ourselves about this, because they make these memes and they make these jokes that, especially in minority communities, once you become a doctor, I don’t care if you’re a podiatrist, if someone has a headache, they’re going to come to you and ask you, “What should I do about this?” because you’re a doctor. And that’s what happens. And so it’s educating yourself on these things, but also knowing the limits to your knowledge, and amplifying the voices of people who you think are experts about these things.

Kevin Pho: Now, how much of the blame lies on the feet of the social media platforms themselves? How much responsibility should Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube themselves have to police this type of misinformation online?

Emmanuel Ohuabunwa: Oh my, that’s like a charged topic, too, right now, these days. I think there’s blame to go in many ways, right? There are people who are posting these things, and we come into these arguments about freedom of speech versus all these. So I try to shy away from stuff like this, and I think there’s blame to go around.

I think it’s helpful for mediums to be able to sort of police things in a way where, if something is clearly false, for example, if someone said a public figure died, or something stupid like that, that stuff needs to go away, because the public figure is alive and well and walking around. But at the same time, we also have to equip ourselves and equip the people in our communities with tools to be able to see stupid stuff like that and ignore it.

Kevin Pho: And my final question: What is your take-home message that you want to leave with the KevinMD audience?

Emmanuel Ohuabunwa: I have a few lessons that I’ve learned throughout this. One is, when you’re doing stuff like this, I like to think of myself as a change agent. I try to push for changes, whether it’s health disparities, whether it’s health equity. It’s tough, because there would be a lot of no’s. And don’t be discouraged; keep pushing, because you’re doing important work, and people will realize that.

A second thing is finding mentors. I have been fortunate enough to have had some great mentors, too many to name, like Howard Forman, during my MD and MBA years; my chair, the chair of my department; and Dr. Gail D’Onofrio, who’s so passionate about these things and exudes that passion; Kristin Guerilla; Ambrose Wong. These are people who have equipped me and supported me throughout various endeavors that I’ve had. And find those mentors, because those would be the people who would continue to push you and who would have the connections to help you to be able to achieve great things.

And then the third thing: Strive to listen to understand as opposed to correct. We are in such a place where people are so quick to correct things, and you say one thing and, you know, trouble for you. So I think we just need to learn to listen and learn to appreciate other people’s point of view.

Oh, and then one more: Vaccines are great. Please get yours ASAP.

Kevin Pho: Emmanuel, thank you so much for sharing your time and insight, and thanks again for being on the show.

Emmanuel Ohuabunwa: Oh, thank you so much. Oh, if people want to connect with me, because I like to mentor a lot of, especially, people who are underrepresented minorities in medicine, please hit me up on Twitter. I am Dr_MannyO, M-A-N-N-Y-O, or on Instagram, DrMannyO. Just find me. I just love to see people of color, people who are underrepresented, pushing to do great things in medicine, and I would love to connect. So hit me up, please.

Kevin Pho: Excellent. Thanks a lot.

Emmanuel Ohuabunwa: Thank you.

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