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YouTube opened applications for UK-licensed healthcare professionals, nurses, psychologists, and other health organizations to register and make their channels eligible for its new health product features.
With over two billion views of health condition videos and searches on YouTube in the UK in 2021, this new feature and expansion will allow the platform to include high-quality information from a wider group of healthcare professionals expanding YouTube’s health shelves across the UK.
What’s the benefit for healthcare professionals?
When it comes to healthcare, people trust professionals to provide them with the best information, knowing this, Youtube leveraged the opportunity by bringing new health product features to help users get informed and educated from the right sources, that is, a professional doctor.
Traditionally, doctors and other healthcare professionals could only have an interface with the patients at the clinic door. The opportunity for the healthcare professionals to educate and create awareness was narrowed down to their clinic, which was way too restricting for some who wanted to help people understand the core of their problems.
That’s the gap YouTube identified and this problem was addressed with YouTube Health, which has been working in the direction of making it easier for people to find reliable health-related information from licensed healthcare professionals on the platform.
YouTube introduced two product features globally last year, in order to help people more easily navigate and evaluate health information that is reliable. One was adding health source information panels on videos (to help viewers identify content from reliable sources) and health content shelves (to highlight videos from reliable sources to help you search for a specific health topic).
By announcing the expansion in the UK, YouTube is building on that work by opening up registrations for UK-licensed doctors, nurses, psychologists, etc. to make their channels eligible for the health product features and benefit from them too. By doing so people will be able to navigate easily and evaluate health information provided to them online.
Therefore, this new step will allow expanding of YouTube’s health shelves to include high-quality information from an even wider group of healthcare channels across the UK, thereby incorporating a greater diversity of voices.
According to Professor Dame Helen Stokes-Lampard, Chair of the Academy of Medical Royal Colleges said, ‘We all know how difficult it can be to differentiate between healthcare information from trusted and reliable sources and content which is inaccurate or of doubtful provenance. We were delighted therefore when YouTube asked to partner with us to help find a solution. I am pleased to say we have been able to draw on our own expertise and that of organizations from across the UK healthcare landscape to produce an easy-to-apply set of principles which will ultimately benefit everyone who turns to YouTube seeking trustworthy health information.’
How to apply?
The professionals looking forward to registering or applying need to go through a quick process, after which they will be provided a health source information panel identifying them as licensed healthcare professionals making the videos they post eligible to appear in relevant search results in health content shelves at YouTube Health.
Steps to apply:
- Applicants must be qualified as licensed doctors, nurses, or psychologist
- Applicant must agree to the health information sharing principles as set out by the AoMRC
- Channel must not have any active Community Guidelines strikes
- Channel must have a minimum of 2,000 public watch hours in the last 12 months, or 5 million valid public Shorts views in the last 90 days
- Channel must be primarily focused on health information
- Fill out the application form (with full details on eligibility requirements)
Considering that this is a big step by YouTube towards helping people with health-related issues, to find and connect with health content creators and create a community of healthcare professionals online ready to help and create awareness.
These smart, dedicated, and creative individuals and organizations are transforming the ways that we share medical information, and YouTube is set to build a community that is helping people become more informed, engaged, and empowered about their health.
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