Dr. Jason Bolt, DNP, CRNA is a YouTuber and social media influencer in the anesthesia community. He graduated from Union University with his doctorate in anesthesia in 2019 and now practices in a collaborative group in the Bay Area. He offers mentorship through his YouTube channel memberships and enjoys helping others reach their goals in nursing and in anesthesia. He volunteers as a member of the AANA Communications Committee and is active in advocating for CRNAs on a legislative level. He is better known online as Bolt CRNA and you can find him @bolt_CRNA on YouTube, Instagram, Tiktok and Facebook.
We talk about the pitfalls and leverage points of social media for anesthesia learners and other healthcare learners including nursing & medical students.
10 tips for surviving anesthesia training and your social media life:
- Make your posts anonymous relative to your school & clinical sites. (Avoid posting your school or clinical site names… like HIPAA, but for your school & clinical sites.)
- Avoid posting protected patient health information. This is obvious… and all about HIPAA.
- Keep your posts POSITIVE about healthcare. Rep your career path and the path of others in healthcare in the best light possible. Your posts reflect you as a provider and the profession in general.
- Avoid posting anything that may offend someone else. This is a tough one… especially when folks like Joe Rogan score multi-million dollar contracts to speak their mind. But you’re not Joe Rogan. (#yourenotjoerogan) You’re a student/learner… the more you piss people off by your posts & opinions, the harder (not easier) your path may be.
- Post & surf on your own time. Social media & any electronic communication is time stamped and discoverable. Practice vigilance at work and your profile pic at home.
- Avoid the usual pitfalls of social media… politics, religion, racism, sexism, demeaning posts/tags/likes/shares, etc.
- For content producers: be authentic, be honest, be truthful and cite peer-reviewed, professional sources in your posts if you’re talking about medical information. Be legit. What you & others post is not “peer reviewed” or edited by experts, so be extremely careful if you’re producing medical education for the world.
- Understand that your preceptors, faculty, professors, attendings, employers, program directors and legal teams at institutions (if necessary) will check you out on social media… post only what you want your employer and your mother to see.
- Rep your style. Do you. Tell people who you are & the path you’re on… real life stories gain traction more than fabricated realities. Have fun, find the others, connect with people, network and believe in the open, beautiful, hopeful world that social media is great at promoting.
- Be well. Shun the unbelievers, haters, trolls & hateful people. Block ’em. Don’t even engage. Watch the Social Dilemma. And then limit your time on social media with alerts on your phone. Go live your real life and be well.
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