00:00While on maternity leave in 2020, Adelaide GP Caitlin Summ created a doctors-only social
00:08media page as a hobby.
00:10It has become a go-to resource for doctors seeking specialist appointments.
00:15I was surprised when I set it up, I felt a little bit nervous that maybe no one would
00:19want to join, but in fact it's been the opposite.
00:22More than 2,000 South Australian doctors have joined the Adelaide GP referral network on
00:27Facebook and it's saving them valuable time.
00:30There's actually a bit of an art to finding the right specialist for a patient and referring
00:35a patient.
00:36Putting a shout out for a specialist on social media is cutting out the Google searches and
00:41asking around, at a time when many specialists have closed books and are not taking on new
00:46patients.
00:47I think it bridges that gap and allows us to communicate with each other better and
00:51get to know each other and communicate directly.
00:53We would all love to spend less time doing admin and more time seeing our patients.
00:58A similar page has started in Victoria with 800 members.
01:02The Royal Australian College of General Practitioners says GPs are under increasing pressure, costs
01:08are rising, wait times are blowing out and specialists are difficult to book.
01:13Social media has become an important tool to quickly source information.
01:16GPs in the medical profession are hyper-connected and social media and those discussion spaces,
01:23just like everyone, is a really important resource that we use to connect.
01:28Only registered doctors can join these social media groups, they cannot upload clinical
01:32photos and must not identify patients.
01:35They risk breaching the medical board's code of conduct if they do.
01:39But Dr Sum says GPs are abiding by the rules as the value of the resource becomes evident.
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