Background The COVID-19 pandemic has brought significant changes to the work of healthcare professionals around the world. Technologies of telemedicine counseling and education of patients have become widespread. The largest platforms for informing patients are social networks such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter.

Objectives to study the possibilities and impact of the social network as a digital medical tool on the education and management of rheumatological patients

Methods The study was conducted in the form of a survey in the social network Instagram in the blog @revmatologg_sarapulova, dedicated to the rheumatological diseases, and was dedicated to the level of information. At the time of the survey, the number of subscribers to the blog was 4895 people, 223 people answered the questions submitted. The survey was conducted in a Google form and was anonymous.

Results 86% of respondents lived in Russian Federation, 17.5% - in the survey region, 14% of patients were from other countries. 72% indicated the presence of rheumatic disease as the reason for reading the blog, 7% - disease in relatives, 14% are guided by the desire to know more about rheumatological diseases. 68.5% of the respondents rated the information presented in the blog as very interesting (10 points on a scale from 0 to 10), 13.3% - 9 points and 9.1% - 8 points. It should be noted that none of the participants in the study gave less than 5 points.

The most interesting in the blog, the majority calls information posts (88.8%) and answers the questions (77.6%). 2 out of 3 patients (64.5%) after getting acquainted with the information provided began to know more about their disease, 14% began to lead a healthier lifestyle, 9.8% realized the need to visit a doctor. 83.3% of participants rated the information on the blog as more detailed than what they get at their doctor’s appointment, and 81% would seek advice from a blogger. When answering the question “Do you share the information you get from the blog with your healthcare provider?” 47.2% noted that they prefer not to report, 28% - report, while 44.9% of respondents indicated that the doctor is neutral about the information received, 22.9% - positively, 7.6% - negatively. In general, 86% agreed that social networks are an important source of medical information, and as other sources they noted self-search for information in the Internet and visiting a doctor. 65.7% of the respondents asked the question to the author of the blog and received a response that was helpful in 90.6% of cases. 36.8% previously applied for telemedicine counseling through any messengers/systems, and 20.1% plan to do so. In 57.8% of cases, the opinion of the attending physician coincided with the result of a telemedicine counseling, in 12.8% it did not, and 17.8% of patients consulted only online.

Conclusion social networks are an important source of information for patients and a means of choosing a medical specialist. However, it is alarming that in about half of the cases, patients do not share the information received with the attending physician, which can be explained both by lack of time and the lack of an adequate level of trust.

Disclosure of Interests None declared