Students as well as trainees are trying to get a taste of the money they could earn as future doctors by leveraging their academic qualifications. Why wait till they finish medical training to start earning.
With some free time and the wish to do good, a couple of them turn to social media. Others scout for opportunities in startups or medical school admissions consulting.
Inspite of the best intentions, the marriage of medicine and entrepreneurship is challenged with ethical issues.
Even schools offer least guidance on best practices. Harvard’s policy only mentions that medical students working in application consulting cannot serve on the admission committee. There are no rules beyond that about where students can work or what they do with their personal social media accounts.
Challenges in Medical influencing:
Kevin Jubbal, MD, started posting videos on YouTube as he wished to help struggling students. His first video went live before he started residency in plastic surgery. Now he has over 1 million subscribers to his channel that is dedicated to physician and student lifestyle content. Some medical influencers monetize too.
A strong media activity is not always beneficial for future residency, fellowship or job applications, depending on the specialty.
Jubbal says that it could be looked unfavorably by admissions committees. There is a bigger risk if you make them look bad or if they perceive you as not being serious about medicine. Infact, Jubbal kept his YouTube channel anonymous till he started the plastic surgery program.
But the social media presence is more accepted now.
A bigger issue for medical influencers is the conflict of interest that could arise when they are looked at as peddling medical advice.
Dishonesty is another challenge, according to Jubbal, who has witnessed people online calling themselves doctors, without finishing medical school.
Ethics in consulting:
Admissions consulting companies are another medium for trainees to earn extra spending money, prior to officially becoming a part of the healthcare workforce.
They offer premeds help with reference to the competitive medical school admissions process. Clients are charged thousands of dollars to receive advice, interview prep and essay editing from coaches who generally are current medical students or residents.
This price tag is criticized as some think that these services further increase the existing socioeconomic disparities.
Jubbal, founded Med School Insiders during medical school has acknowledged the racial gap in medicine.
Ryan Brewster, a student at Stanford School of Medicine, has worked at Med School Insiders for 3 years. Brewster believes that experiences and advice they can dispense, shouldn’t have a price tag. It only reinforces inequalities that are seen in the diversity of the healthcare workforce.