WhatsApp is the most popular among doctors, followed by Telegram

WhatsApp has become the most popular messenger among doctors (part of Meta, which is recognized as extremist and banned in Russia. – Vedomosti), follows from the results of a survey of employees of Russian medical institutions conducted by the PRT Edelman Affiliate communication group. It is used by 92.8% of respondents. In second place is Telegram (75.8%), in third is Viber (44%). The study was conducted by telephone survey in November-December 2022. 1000 doctors of various specialties took part in the survey.

As it turned out during the study, the most active users of WhatsApp were psychiatrists (98.4%), pediatricians (97.1%) and cardiologists (96.6%). Telegram is most often used by endocrinologists (this answer was chosen by 89.3% of doctors in this specialty), pediatricians (85%) and nephrologists (84%). And Viber – dermatologists, cosmetologists and venereologists (66.7%), as well as neurologists (61.5%).

In addition, according to the survey, more than 90% of doctors of any length of service communicate on WhatsApp, from those with less than five years of practice to those with more than 30 years of experience. Telegram has the maximum prevalence among specialists with experience from 10 to 30 years (more than 80% of respondents in this category use it). And the minimum – among doctors with more than 30 years of experience (62.5%). At the same time, Viber is most actively used by specialists with less than 5 years of experience (52.4%). This messenger is the least common among doctors with 5 to 10 years of experience (37.5%).

After the departure of foreign social networks from Russia, more and more pharmaceutical brands are thinking about creating channels, chat bots in messengers for communication with a professional audience, said Artem Davydov, head of the pharmaceutical communications department at PRT.

“Methods of this communication can be very different: from targeted mailing of messages about new products to maintaining closed medical channels with medical news,” he said.

The popularity of Telegram and WhatsApp among doctors, on the one hand, is explained by the fact that these instant messengers are the most popular among Russians in general, follows from Mediascope data. At the end of December 2022, according to the meter, WhatsApp in Russia was used by 87.4 million people over 12 years old from desktops and mobile devices, Telegram – 72.4 million, Viber – 35.5 million. A key factor in the popularity of WhatsApp is its simplicity functionality, and Telegram is unique content, says Karen Kazaryan, director of the Internet Research Institute.

On the other hand, the popularity of instant messengers among doctors is due to the fact that some specialists began to increase the number of online consultations through instant messengers even during the pandemic, Dmitry Vasilenko, head of the training and development department for telemedicine doctors at the SberHealth service, knows. But this practice, as he explains, carries risks for the patient’s health and has nothing to do with telemedicine: “Messengers, unlike digital medicine services, do not impose requirements on the qualifications of doctors.”

Consultations in instant messengers are indeed illegal, Dmitry Bartnev, lawyer of the Onigin Group bureau, confirms. “The doctor can conduct them either in person or as part of telemedicine assistance, provided that the patient and the doctor are identified through the Unified Identification and Authentication System (ESIA),” he says.