New video series answer patient questions and feature internal medicine physicians offering practical strategies for building vaccine confidence
PHILADELPHIA, February 28, 2022 –The American College of Physicians (ACP) recently released the initial set of educational videos for their two new series to combat misinformation about the COVID-19 virus and encourage vaccination. The “Ask Your Internist” and “Physician to Physician Conversations” series were developed as a result of a partnership with YouTube, with the goal of presenting practical strategies for physicians and other health care professionals to address misinformation and build vaccine confidence as well as providing accurate medical information to patients from trusted physician messengers.
The videos, some of which are available in English and Spanish, debuted in November 2021. They offer suggestions for physicians on how to assess and address medical misinformation and build vaccine confidence. The patient-facing “Ask Your Internist” series features physicians answering the public’s top vaccine-related questions and proactively sharing strategies to avoid misinformation and access credible health information online.
The videos include topics like how to reinforce public health measures, how to access accurate COVID-19 information, the safety of COVID-19 vaccines, creating safe spaces for COVID-19 vaccine conversations with patients and team approaches to address COVID-19 vaccine concerns among others. To date, the videos have garnered more than 400,000 views; five videos from the series are among the top 10 most viewed videos in ACP’s YouTube channel history and ACP Channel subscriptions have increased more than 10 percent since November 2021.
The ACP and YouTube videos including the Ask Your Internist and Physician to Physician Conversations can be accessed on ACP’s YouTube Channel, as well as other ACP video content. Additionally, ACP will continue efforts to address misinformation about COVID-19, vaccines, safety and other related topics.
“ACP had expressed concern about the spread of misinformation about the COVID-19 virus, vaccination and treatments, and its detrimental impact on public health. We saw the opportunity to partner with YouTube to produce video content as a meaningful way to address the issue and help public education and perception around COVID health information,” said George M. Abraham, MD, MPH, MACP, President, ACP. “The trusted physician voice in the ACP and YouTube videos set out to change, influence and inspire confidence in evidence-based public health measures as we all fight to move beyond this world global crisis.”
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About the American College of Physicians
The American College of Physicians is the largest medical specialty organization in the United States with members in more than 145 countries worldwide. ACP membership includes 161,000 internal medicine physicians (internists), related subspecialists, and medical students. Internal medicine physicians are specialists who apply scientific knowledge and clinical expertise to the diagnosis, treatment, and compassionate care of adults across the spectrum from health to complex illness. Follow ACP on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.
ACP Media Contact: Andrew Hachadorian, (215) 351-2514, AHachadorian@acponline.org