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Believe it or not, the new trending creators on TikTok belong to the medical field. They’re posting about the doctor’s visit on TikTok. Even though you might not think of your primary care physician as a part-time content writer, many of them do, as evidenced by their sizable followings. On the social media site, a community of medical professionals is flourishing. You may follow a “day in the life” of an anesthesiologist, laugh at a humorous pediatric office visit, or learn something new about your skin from a dermatologist by simply scrolling through the #DoctorTok or #NurseTok hashtags.
Hold up, Let’s take it back a notch
A nurse named Alex Kim started posting content on TikTok in January 2022 after realizing the medium offered educational opportunities: “If someone has never gone to a hospital, they truly have no idea what it’s like. Since I labor in the background, I reasoned that I could demonstrate that. He began by posting a few films, “Day in a Life of a Pediatric Nurse,” which amassed more than a million views.
Some days at work as a doctor feel a little more special than others when you have over 148,000 followers. “I’ve met nursing students at the hospital who tell me that my videos got them through final exams,” Kim said. Being able to repay other creators for their inspiration has brought him a special sense of happiness. “I never imagined that I would be in a position to truly assist people in this manner. It’s a privilege.
Real life med drama
In the words of Dr. Tiffany Moon, a 1.5 million-follower anesthesiologist and former cast member of Bravo’s “Real Housewives of Dallas,” making content for TikTok is about taking a break from the office. “From the start, I didn’t want my content to focus on medicine,” she said. “When I came home from the hospital, the last thing I wanted to talk about was work.” She joined TikTok during the early stages of the pandemic, and it served as an escape where she could record dances with her 15-year-old daughter or discuss things she loved that she found in her closet.
But viewers were curious about her job all the time. “People would comment ‘What does an anesthesiologist do’ and ‘Can you talk more about work,’ so I let my audience tell me what they want,” Moon added. Her medical experience piqued people’s interest, and despite her sharing personal details with them, they were still curious in her professional history. She started adding information to her feed, such as day-by-day summaries and reenactments of patient scenarios. “There’s a certain draw to medical topics, so I get why they’re so fascinated by it.”
Doctors getting fired?
Sometimes dark comedy is not well accepted. When labor and delivery personnel at Emory Hospital in Georgia began talking about “icks,” or things they find unusual or unsavoury in their patients, in public last month, they might have been sharing too much information. Although their TikTok became popular, many thought it was disrespectful and inappropriate to make fun of someone’s personal choices. The nurses were fired from their jobs when patients voiced their complaints to the hospital.
A nurse in North Carolina was suspended last summer for posting “comedy skits” on TikTok about overmedicating patients and unplugging ventilators so she could use the phone for charging.
These doctors/ creators still prioritize patient care, but they also prioritize self-fulfillment. It’s risky for them to share their life with the world. But it’s a risk that medical designers are ready to accept in order to be perceived as multifaceted individuals outside of their work.
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