Whether it’s tweeting about lunch in the hospital canteen or sharing ways to improve healthcare, Twitter is quickly becoming the hottest social media platform for doctors.
Discovering who to follow among the half a billion Twitter users isn’t easy. We asked you to recommend the hottest 140 word tweeters. Here are the JuniorDr Top Tweeters –
Junior Doctors
@welsh_gas_doc
Dave Jones
Propofologist in Wales – Propoffologio yng Nghymru.
Followers: 9,073
Tweets: 35,372
Average tweets per day: 31
Influencer power: 131
Famous words: “The day that I’m made to work for Serco or Virgin is the day that I hang up my stethoscope and do something else.”
@Danielf90
Daniel S
Doctor in Manchester. Oxford graduate. 24. Gay. Loves Theatre. Jew…ish. Interested in public health, patient safety, health service design & life in general.
Followers: 1,853
Tweets: 46,797
Average tweets per day: 34
Influencer power: 8
Famous words: “Today involved lots of baked goods & lots of tears. I’ll miss ward 6 so much! Had a blast. Never thought I’d enjoy being an F1 this much.”
@themattmak
Matt
Emergency Medicine doctor. Tweets on healthcare, politics, education, leadership, travel and media.
Followers: 4,431
Tweets: 4,077
Average tweets per day: 6
Influencer power: 161
Famous words: “Never, and I mean never, say the ‘Q’ word. It doesn’t actually affect how busy a shift is, but you will get evils all day #tipsfornewdocs”
@silv24
Natalie Silvey
Doctor, domestic goddess-in-Training, Science Geek, passionate about Global Health, tweets in a personal capacity. Also tweets @TwitJournalClub and runs #twitjc
Followers: 3,440
Tweets: 46,600
Average tweets per day: 44
Influencer power: 19
Famous words: “Today I saw an example of why the NHS is amazing, I see examples every single day. And I am so proud to be working as a doctor in the NHS.”
@dr_fiona
Dr Fiona Pathiraja
Work in hospital medicine. Love Public Health. Incidentally Oscar de la Renta’s biggest fan.
Followers: 2,503
Tweets: 3,358
Average tweets per day: 3
Influencer power: 29
Famous words: “My favourite patient is dying from oesophageal cancer+asked me to tell everyone I know to abstain from hard drinking+/-smoking. #NHS #cancer”
@Damian_Roland
Damian Roland
Do something better together #nhschangeday NIHR Doctoral Research Fellow : evaluating educational interventions http://bit.ly/NRVek3 #FOAMed
Followers: 2,503
Tweets: 3,358
Average tweets per day: 3
Influencer power: 29
Famous words: “If anyone sees a cardboard tube with Damian on it could they possibly let the Leicester crew know I have forgotten our poster.”
@AndyNeill
Andy Neill
Emergency Med Trainee in Ireland. Site at emergencymedicineireland.com – interests in #Anatomy #FOAMed (Free Open Acces Meducation) #EM
Followers: 3,770
Tweets: 2,943
Average tweets per day: 5
Influencer power: 55
Famous words: “There was a time I was pretty sweet at physiology. Replaced all that with anatomy – only so much space in a small brain.”
@PaedsSHO
David
Baby doctor. Geek.
Followers: 2,105
Tweets: 17,809
Average tweets per day: 32
Influencer power: 25
Famous words: “There’s a study about falling sperm counts. Reuters have covered it with Andrew Seaman. Guardian have gone with Ian Sample. Brilliant.”
@doctorpreneur
Emma Stanton
Followers: 3,320
Tweets: 3,896
Average tweets per day: 3
Influencer power: 52
Famous words: “Of all the cigarettes smoked in the US, half are smoked by people with mental health problems”
Media docs
@HSJEditor
Alastair McLellan
Editor of Health Service Journal – the UK’s leading health policy, leadership and management title.
Followers: 8,604
Tweets: 8,731
Average tweets per day: 7
Influencer power: 123
Famous words: “‘END OF AN ERA, BREAKING OF A NEW DAWN’. Today’s winner of ‘most pompous press release title’ (in this case the opening of new health centre)”
@fgodlee
Fiona Godlee
I’m editor of the BMJ and mother to two young children and am hoping my friends understand.
Followers: 3,483
Tweets: 692
Average tweets per day: 0.5
Influencer power: 72
Famous words: “The man taking my order for lunch asked my name, and then asked “So where’s Shrek?” At home looking after the kids I said.”
@keirshiels
Keir Shiels
SHO in paediatrics, sometime winetaster and overly middle class. Doctor off BBC’s ‘Junior Doctors: Your Life in Their Hands’
Followers: 6,120
Tweets: 32,850
Average tweets per day: 51
Influencer power: 52
Famous words: “Worth noting it would only take 2 doctors to section Andrew Lansley. Any volunteers? #nhs #nhsreform #NHSBill”
@MaxPemberton
Max Pemberton
Doctor and Daily Telegraph columnist.
Followers: 5,616
Tweets: 9,710
Average tweets per day: 7
Influencer power: 132
Famous words: “Argh! just seen someone sitting opposite me on train is reading my book. Quite embarrassed. Watching for signs of enjoyment. He’s frowning.”
@Dr_Stuart
Stuart Flanagan
Resident Doctor on BBC Radio 1’s Surgery. Also on C5’s Live With…, 5Live & Radio 4. Indie Kid/Soul Rebel/Telefantasy Geek
Followers: 2,018
Tweets: 5,227
Average tweets per day: 6
Influencer power: 30
Famous words: “I wish the media wouldn’t describe dying of cancer as ‘losing a battle’. No-one ever died from cancer due to not fighting hard enough”
@richardhorton1
Richard Horton
Editor of the Lancet. Welcome to a permanent attack on the present.
Followers: 5,038
Tweets: 4,551
Average tweets per day: 4
Influencer power: 344
Famous words: “I am reliably informed that DH tries to avoid including Jeremy Hunt in its work. He knows little, engages less, and is way out of his depth.”
@Kevin_Fong
Kevin Fong
Wellcome Trust Engagement Fellow, Anaesthetist, UCL Physiology lecturer, columnist for THE, spacejunky, lover of science, ideas, the NHS & kebabs.
Followers: 6,520
Tweets: 3,272
Average tweets per day: 3
Influencer power: 531
Famous words: “Today I landed an airbus 320-200 on runway 8 @ Gatwick. In the rain. Saved a whole BBC Horizon crew. #SavingLives #FlightSim”
@DoctorChristian
Dr Christian Jessen
British Doctor and Sexual Health Campaigner. Presenter of Channel 4’s Supersize Vs Superskinny & the BAFTA Award Winning Embarrassing Bodies.
Followers: 166,017
Tweets: 15,184
Average tweets per day: 11
Influencer power: 1687
Famous words: “How’s this for an embarrassing statistic for a Sunday morning: 1 in 3 men in the UK are too fat to see their own penis!”
Doctors
@drgrumble
Dr Grumble
NHS consultant
Followers: 2,924
Tweets: 12,523
Average tweets per day: 12
Influencer power: 185
Famous words: “Guidelines don’t turn bad doctors into good ones. The bad doctor has an infinite capacity to misapply guidelines on a grand scale.”
@amcunningham
AnneMarie Cunningham
GP, Clinical Lecturer and EdD Student… interested in everything:) Determined not to be one of the Sheep.
Followers: 8,596
Tweets: 81,523
Average tweets per day: 49
Influencer power: 47
Famous words: “Quote from medical student re PBL “Three hours of guessing what to learn?” #meded”
@traumagasdoc
Trauma Anaesthetist
Doctor specialising in anaesthesia: Trauma, Education, GI, general all Rounder, Scandi, cyclist, runner, Musician. Occasional trash tweets Saturday Nights.
Followers: 2,553
Tweets: 4,197
Average tweets per day: 7
Influencer power: 206
Famous words: “The three great lies of a doctor: – I’ll be there in five minutes – I’m nearly finished – This won’t hurt.”
@mellojonny
Jonathon Tomlinson
Passionate about general practice, very interested in patients. Accident prone. For a publicly funded, collaborative NHS
Followers: 3,897
Tweets: 19,830
Average tweets per day: 16
Influencer power: 108
Famous words: “Patient’s T-shirt this am. ‘My imaginary chronic illness is more real than your imaginary medical expertise’ 🙂 http://t.co/XMt70xee”
@CRoseveare
Chris Roseveare
Consultant Physician; Editor, Acute Medicine journal; President, Society for Acute Medicine; enjoys writing and teaching; tweets are my own views
Followers: 283
Tweets: 1,134
Average tweets per day: 2
Influencer power: 50
Famous words: “It’s time for senior doctors to stop finding reasons why #7dayworking can’t happen and start to look at how/when/what we can deliver.”
@COPDdoc
Nick Hopkinson
NHS Consultant Chest Physician and Senior Lecturer in Respiratory Medicine at Royal Brompton Hospital and Imperial College, London. Focus on COPD. Views my own.
Followers: 1,030
Tweets: 4,433
Average tweets per day: 9
Influencer power: 165
Famous words: “Aneurin Bevan In Place of Fear : No society can call itself civilised if a sick person is denied medical aid because of lack of means.”
@4hrEmergencyDoc
ED Doc
UK Emergency Department consultant & Med Ed fan. Jack of all trades, master of none but determined to provide gold standard care to all patients & students.
Followers: 2,237
Tweets: 934
Average tweets per day: 1.2
Influencer power: 123
Famous words: “Sat on patient bed doing ward round & got told off by matron. 99yr old Patient then hit matron with her walking stick #patientchoice”
@drgandalf52
DrGandalf
I am me. I am a GP. What will be will be. If not I’ll change it … you will see! Tweets by Dr H Gandhi.
Followers: 866
Tweets: 2,756
Average tweets per day: 1.2
Influencer power: 123
Famous words: “Sat on patient bed doing ward round & got told off by matron. 99yr old patient then hit matron with her walking stick #patientchoice”
@doctorblogs
Annabel Bentley
Doctor in london,likes beaches, patient-orientated Evidence, informed decision making &health2.0 Blogs Onmedica.com, BMJ [personal tweets]
Followers: 13,093
Tweets: 4,506
Average tweets per day: 3
Influencer power: 58
Famous words: “Surgeon at #Quality2012 says to me: “I don’t follow any guidelines. No-one tells *me* what to do” is this the norm or outlier viewpoint?”
Political
@drbenmolyneux
Ben Molyneux
Chairman of the BMA Junior Doctors Committee, working to get great training for all.
Followers: 1,542
Tweets: 1,209
Average tweets per day: 1.5
Influencer power: 69
Famous words: “Just had Ed Milliband and Andy Burnham do a ‘surprise’ visit to our ward. There was also lots of ‘surprise’ cleaning and tidying just before.”
@cpeedell
Clive Peedell
Co-leader National Health Action party. Co-chair NHS Consultants Association, BMA Council, Consultant Oncologist.
Followers: 5,296
Tweets: 9,394
Average tweets per day: 20
Influencer power: 1130
Famous words: “Can all Twitter NHS staff please state: “Shirley Williams is no friend of the NHS and no friend of mine” #libdems #nhs #LDConf”
@jeremy_hunt
Jeremy Hunt
Conservative MP for South West Surrey and Secretary of State for Health
Followers: 32,166
Tweets: 569
Average tweets per day: 0.5
Influencer power: 1354
Famous words: “Welcome to my first Dept Health tweet. Busy morning looking at improving mortality rates for big killer diseases.”
@andyburnhammp
Andy Burnham
Member of Parliament for Leigh and Shadow Health Secretary.
Followers: 35,027
Tweets: 365
Average tweets per day: 3
Influencer power: 1436
Famous words: “19 #NHS trusts in SW prepare to sack nurses & break national pay. Meanwhile, in other news, the bill for agency nurses is soaring. Madness.”
Academia
@bengoldacre
Ben Goldacre
Nerd cheerleader, Bad Science person, stats Geek, research fellow in Epidemiology, procrastinator.
Followers: 242,549
Tweets: 33,175
Average tweets per day: 16
Influencer power: 935
Famous words: “I am stroking my huge pile of leaked industry emails. Been a bit busy recently. The ones involving Royal Colleges are the worst. Deary me.”
@trishgreenhalgh
Trisha Greenhalgh
Doctor, academic, agitator, ageing athlete
Followers: 4,520
Tweets: 6,061
Average tweets per day: 18
Influencer power: 477
Famous words: “Oops. On Skype to @DouglasNobleMD Me: “Is that your toddler’s scribble drawing on wall?” Him: “No, it’s my map of the US healthcare system””
@the_learnaholic
Amanda Jane
Academic junior doctor, MSc student, cub leader, cake baker, @sensetweets and @overthewallcamp volunteer, learnaholic and (minorly) overgrown child.
Followers: 995
Tweets: 25,189
Average tweets per day: 20
Influencer power: 2
Famous words: “Dear Father Christmas, I know you can’t manage to get me a dog, but could I possibly have a baby otter? Please? I’ve been good. Love Amanda.”
Patients
@Sectioned_
Mental Health
In 2011 I was detained in the UK’s busiest acute psychiatric hospital, a brutal & sometimes hilarious intro to NHS mental health care. You’ve gotta laugh!
Followers: 2,513
Tweets: 10,690
Average tweets per day: 31
Influencer power: 205
Famous words: “Downside of having a psychiatric diagnosis: you can’t dye your hair red or be grumpy & opinionated without it being considered a symptom.”
@ninjabetic1
Ninjabetic
Youth ambassador at Diabetes UK. A Ninja with type1 diabetes supporting & understanding people who live with D. Join the chat & make a change!
Followers: 1,350
Tweets: 12,452
Average tweets per day: 44
Influencer power: 21
Famous words: “I’ve decided my diabetes New Years resolution for 2013 is to get my hba1c done every 3 months (as I should anyway).”
@GrangerKate
Kate Granger
Wife, daughter, sister, friend, doctor, patient and author. Always trying to look on the bright side of life.
Followers: 2,571
Tweets: 822
Average tweets per day: 3
Influencer power: 240
Famous words: “Please give blood. Last year I needed 15 units of packed cells & 8 units of platelets to get me through chemo.”
Thinkers
@nedwards_1
Nigel Edwards
Health policy, delivery & improvement in the UK & Europe. Looking for radical new ways to look at healthcare
Followers: 4,047
Tweets: 1,474
Average tweets per day: 2
Influencer power: 137
Famous words: “Lessons in #NHSreform 1: Once in a generation opportunities to change the NHS: 2000, 2006, 2008, 2010 – its clearly generations of cats.”
@DonaldsonLiam
Liam Donaldson
Former Chief Medical Officer England. Thinks, speaks, writes and leads in Public Health, Healthcare quality and safety, Global Health.
Followers: 3,267
Tweets: 779
Average tweets per day: 1.8
Influencer power: 223
Famous words: “Spoke at Rotary event for Paralympians some disabled by polio. Number of people in small London room same as remaining polio cases globally.”
@profchrisham
Chris Ham
Chief executive of The King’s Fund
Followers: 4,953
Tweets: 1,591
Average tweets per day: 3
Influencer power: 169
Famous words: “Here’s to a peaceful and healthy 2012. Let’s ensure the NHS remains there for us all and provides the ‘serenity’ Bevan intended in ’48.”
@muirgray
Muir Gray
Physician, Preventive. Care Specialist, Director of the National Knowledge Service.
Followers: 3,922
Tweets: 4,047
Average tweets per day: 3
Influencer power: 88
Famous words: “Most healthcare is Brownian Motion, the random movement of patients, professionals, blood samples and documents.”
@ProfSteveField
Prof Steve Field
Deputy Medical Director NHS CB – Health Inequalities & Chair National Inclusion Health Board. GP in Birmingham. Life long Baggies fan – Boing Boing!
Followers: 3,720
Tweets: 3,141
Average tweets per day: 9
Influencer power: 150
Famous words: “Oh dear we seem to have failed in our PH messages in Brum via @Telegraph Chip shop serves deep fried #Christmas dinner http://t.co/coZCWm7V”
@helenbevan
Helen Bevan
Leader of improvement, innovation & radical change in NHS @nhsinstituteuk. Focus on strengths more than deficiencies. All views my own.
Followers: 3,644
Tweets: 2,056
Average tweets per day: 3
Influencer power: 326
Famous words: “Healthcare leaders can learn much from Tupperware re using social media to connect with employees http://t.co/k6n5cSEh thanks @bethcabrera”
@Richard56
Richard Smith
Makes words, soup, marmalade. porridge, and trouble. Was once editor of the BMJ. Started Tweeting when 56, now 59.
Followers: 2,857
Tweets: 5,747
Average tweets per day: 3
Influencer power: 145
Famous words: “Distrust in doctors is increasing rapidly, and the further north you go the greater the distrust. Said at meeting at House of Commons.”
Technology
@Berci
Berci Meskó, MD, PhD
Medical doctor with PhD in Genomics, aspiring futurist, Founder of http://Webicina.com, Speaker, Blogger, university lecturer, Health 2.0 Consultant, WP admin.
Followers: 22,183
Tweets: 24,750
Average tweets per day: 12
Influencer power: 133
Famous words: “Paralyzed Woman Outfitted with Mind-Controlled Arm Feeds Herself for First Time in Decade (VIDEO) http://t.co/KlGJdgXK”
@drcjar
Carl Reynolds
London based physician, Health informatician, co-Founder of Open Health Care UK. Interested in developing Healthcare Digital Services among other things.
Followers: 560
Tweets: 1,209
Average tweets per day: 1.5
Influencer power: 47
Famous words: “We expect every GP practice to have a publicly available letter box, why not an email address? might help patients etc to get in touch.”
@PodmedicsEd
Dr Ed Wallitt
I’m a doctor that speaks code. Founder of podmedics.com. Director of Podmedics Ltd, a UK-based company that builds physician-led Software Solutions for Health.
Followers: 1,036
Tweets: 2,264
Average tweets per day: 1.6
Influencer power: 28
Famous words: “Please can all people who frequent Paddington GUM clinic stop watching Embarrassing Bodies on C4 – it tends to up our attendance rate.”
Education/training
@clarercgp
Clare Gerada
Chair of the Royal College of General Practitioners
Followers: 12,229
Tweets: 25,393
Average tweets per day: 28
Influencer power: 71
Famous words: “Public wake up. Your #NHS is disappearing. Care will never again be according to need but ability to pay. http://t.co/pClYeh7m”
@NHSE_Dean
Dean Royles
Chief Executive, the NHS Employers organisation. Committed to keeping you up to date with the latest HR thinking & advice. Own views.
Followers: 2,316
Tweets: 5,101
Average tweets per day: 8
Influencer power: 185
Famous words: “Nearly 60 thousand assaults on NHS staff. Yes, you read that right – 60 thousand. http://t.co/u6oS7D1W”
Comedy
@amateursuman
Suman Biswas
Amateur Transplants Vocalist, Lyricist & Pianist (London Underground, Paracetamoxyfrusebendroneomycin, Beautiful etc) Anaesthetist & Punmeister
Followers: 6,459
Tweets: 16,027
Average tweets per day: 12
Influencer power: 450
Famous words: “One of the toddlers on the Intensive Care unit is playing with a toy donkey. ICU baby, shaking that ass.”
@drphilhammond
Dr Phil Hammond
GP, Private Eye’s medical correspondent and one of the few comedians to have played a public inquiry. Touring in 2012
Followers: 16,434
Tweets: 2,586
Average tweets per day: 3
Influencer power: 1104
Famous words: “Just been to lecture on nutrition. Consultant lecturer: ‘How often do NHS patients die from malnutition?’ GP at the back ‘Just the once'”
What is influencer power?
Measuring someone’s influence on Twitter is difficult and not an exact science. We’ve determined our influencer power primarily by the number of tweets per hundred from a user which are retweeted. This is commonly seen as the industry standard measure.
Resources
Guidance – Doctors use of social media – GMC
The pitfalls of using social media sites – MPS
