Objectives:Social media has changed methods of communication in the medical profession.As part of a"doctor as communicator"strategy,Chinese medical professionals are actively embracing social media,which may have an impact on tense physician-patient relationships in China.This paper aims to examine a pattern of Internet access,Internet usage,and trust among Chinese medical professionals and further explores the reasons for these relationships on an individual level.Designs:A web-based questionnaire was designed,based on a media literacy model,and was divided into 3 dimensions:public information,general medical information,and specialty information.After a two-round pilot study,1001 physicians were included.Additionally,4 interviewees were chosen to participate in in-depth interviews and content analysis was performed.Data were analyzed using SPSS 25.0.Results:Findings showed that new media has become a major approach for medical professionals in China to retrieve and get access to various information.However,they still trust traditional media(n=1001,P<0.01)and professional journals more(n=1001,P<0.01).Internet access,usage,and trust were positively correlated(r-0.185-0.344,P<0.01).Regarding usage habits,47.66%of the participating physicians would practice science popularization through their new media accounts and 71.23%would forward approved health information within their professional realm.A validated instrument can be provided for further related studies.Conclusions:Science popularization is a specific usage of new media among Chinese medical professionals,through which they have achieved new authority and empowered communication because of self-media.To some extent,physician-patient relationships in China can be improved because this online interaction is conducive to building harmonious and lasting offline physician-patient relationships.
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