{"id":17475,"date":"2026-06-24T14:31:59","date_gmt":"2026-06-24T14:31:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\/?p=17475"},"modified":"2026-06-24T14:31:59","modified_gmt":"2026-06-24T14:31:59","slug":"tiktok-is-reinventing-healthcare-should-you-trust-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\/?p=17475","title":{"rendered":"TikTok is reinventing healthcare. Should you trust it?"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<p>Monica Carter, a nurse practitioner specializing in obstetrics and gynecology, appears on a TikTok screen, saying\u00a0she is seeing<em> so<\/em> much \u201ctrich\u201d in her clinic.<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\/?p=17473\">IRS did better than expected in tax season after slashing staff, except on the phone, watchdog says<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Trichomonas is a sexually transmitted infection caused by a parasite, not a virus, she tells her 15,000\u00a0followers.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt is supercurable, and it\u2019s rampant and common, and honestly, it\u2019s not tested with routine testing. I am seeing it every day,\u201d she exclaims on her post, which elicited more than 36,500\u00a0likes.<\/p>\n<p>For decades, medical wisdom was dispensed exclusively within exam rooms and clinics. But social media has moved healthcare education from traditional offices into the palms of millions through mobile platforms like TikTok and Instagram.<\/p>\n<p>Carter says she jumped onto TikTok after filming a quick video about a \u201cpatient situation\u201d in her Washington, D.C., clinic and watched it instantly explode. \u201cEveryone was like, \u2018We love this. Can you do this more?\u2019\u201d she said. She since has posted on women\u2019s health issues and said followers frequently comment that their own doctors had never explained conditions like fibroid endometriosis or premenstrual dysphoric disorder (PMDD) so clearly.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI love to give valid, reliable, evidence-based information on social media,\u201d Carter told more than 500 health professionals at the recent 2026 Health Foundation of South Florida Black Health Summit in Pembroke Pines. \u201cI do it more as health education, not medical advice, so that others can empower themselves and advocate for themselves when they\u2019re seen in their doctor\u2019s office.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Carter noted that topics like menopause, perimenopause and IUDs are currently driving massive engagement on TikTok. Rather than bringing in myths, patients are arriving at appointments highly informed, requesting specific treatments like Hormone Replacement Therapy with a nuanced understanding of the risks.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOur young patients don\u2019t Google anything; they go into TikTok and type in \u2018birth control,\u2019\u201d Carter said. \u201cIt\u2019s happening, and if you can\u2019t beat them, join them. I\u2019m just out there trying to make sure they get great information.\u201d<\/p>\n<div>\n<\/div>\n<p>Roughly 41% of all major health and wellness influencers on social media are credentialed healthcare professionals (including doctors, nurses, physical therapists, and dermatologists), according to a new survey from the Pew Research Center. They command millions of followers across high-traffic platforms like TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube.<\/p>\n<h4>Finding the falsehoods<\/h4>\n<p>Public health expert Dr. Michael Forde, with 300,000 TikTok followers, said he uses his social platform to educate and bridge the gap between history and health outcomes. He said his goal is to be trusted by his followers for health information and remain objective and entirely \u201cfact-checkable\u201d to counteract the noise of unverified online medical advice.<\/p>\n<p>Yet medical falsehoods on social media do influence health decisions.<\/p>\n<p>Dr. Matthew Facciani, a public health misinformation researcher at Yale University, noted that a cancer treatment decision is about as high-consequence as a health decision gets, yet it is unusually prone to a confusing and dangerous online information environment. Patients tend to respond to who makes them feel seen during a difficult time in their lives, he said. This matters because cancer falsehoods online are directly linked to higher rates of death, studies have found.<\/p>\n<div>\n<\/div>\n<p>\u201cPlatforms reward engagement, and content built on fear or hope tends to outperform careful, hedged accuracy,\u201d Facciani said.<\/p>\n<p>Across YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, and Twitter, low-quality content gets more views, more likes, and more shares than accurate content, he said.<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\/?p=17471\">Anthropic\u2019s Mythos model found vulnerabilities in classified US government systems, official says<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere\u2019s a difference between being credentialed and being trusted,\u201d he said. \u201cTrust is built through relationship and feeling heard, and expert content sometimes moves to correction before doing that relational work.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>What would actually help, \u201cis (medical experts) showing up consistently rather than only in response to a viral claim,\u201d Facciani said.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Moving from online to in-person<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>While Forde actively embraces his role as a digital health advocate, he draws a firm line when patients substitute algorithms and feeds for actual clinical care.<\/p>\n<p>According to a June 2026 ehealth survey, 49% of insured Americans have used AI tools for medical advice, and 63% of these have acted on the guidance they received without consulting a doctor.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI don\u2019t think that doctors should ever be replaced,\u201d\u00a0 Forde said. \u201cAt the end of the day, they\u2019re the people who are seeing you and doing the research.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In doctors\u2019 offices, this digital influx of health information requires a new style of patient interaction, say South Florida physicians.<\/p>\n<p>Dr. Michelle Kirwan, a Miami pediatrician, educates online through a podcast called Black Health. \u201cIt\u2019s an opportunity to extend my reach beyond the exam room,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p>However, she uses the concept of \u201cloud listening\u201d in the exam room \u2014 being fully open and receptive to the information patients bring from their social feeds.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cA misleading messenger can make harm feel believable,\u201d\u00a0 Kirwan said.<\/p>\n<p>Kirwan said she had a teenage patient struggling with an eating disorder who finally began recovering only after spending a month at a summer camp without her phone. The teen later revealed to Kirwan that she had been following a glamorous influencer who actively encouraged extreme weight loss.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI realized I have to really be listening to that social conversation that is happening so that I can get in front of it,\u201d Kirwan said. \u201cI have to show my patients proof that this is why something is incorrect or correct.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI learned my lesson that day.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><em>South Florida Sun Sentinel health reporter Cindy Goodman can be reached at cgoodman@sunsentinel.com.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\/?p=17469\">Independent UN-commissioned experts accuse Israel of targeting Gaza children, repeat genocide claim<\/a><\/p>\n<h4>Check your health facts<\/h4>\n<p>Tips for finding and vetting reliable health information online<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Look for verified, regulated credentials in the specific field an expert is discussing. A chiropractor is not a substitute for a pediatrician.<\/li>\n<li>Be highly skeptical of unregulated terms like health coach.<\/li>\n<li>Evaluate a claim to see what the creator stands to gain from it. (Are they selling you a supplement or master class?)<\/li>\n<li>Be highly suspicious of content that offers simple, absolute solutions to complex medical conditions.<\/li>\n<li>Watch out for cherry-picking: Unreliable accounts will often pull a single, poorly designed study out of context to back up a wild claim.<\/li>\n<li>Social media platforms feed you what you engage with. If you want a healthier timeline, start actively following content from reliable sources: major research hospitals, government health agencies, and credentialed professionals.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Sources: Dr. Matthew Facciani, American Medical Association, HHS.gov<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Social media has moved healthcare education into the palms of millions.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":17474,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[43,2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-17475","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-based-on-facts-either-observed-and-verified-directly-by-the-reporter-or-reported-and-verified-from-knowledgeable-sources","category-news"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>TikTok is reinventing healthcare. 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