A Conversation with Dr. Fran: Educating the Public & Combating Medical Misinformation via TikTok
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This post is a continuation of the “A Conversation With” series, where I interview smart humans about their experiences in social media and content creation. You can read past features here.
This month, I interviewed Dr. Fran Haydanek, an OBGYN and content creator who has grown a large following on TikTok. In this blog post, we explore how to decide what to share, why it’s worthwhile for physicians to show up online, navigating and combating medical misinformation, and more.
What inspired you to start a TikTok?
I’ve always been on the internet, as long as I can remember, going back to LiveJournal in the late 90s. When I graduated from college and started working full time in the early 2010s, Pinterest was just getting started and so were a lot of style blogs. It seemed like a fun activity, so I started taking photos of myself before work every day and posting it on my own style blog. I continued with it during med school and started talking about life in medical school.
When I graduated from med school and went to residency, you wear scrubs 100% of the time, I was working 80-90 hours/week, and my blog fell by the wayside. After residency, I had two young kids, was home for six months, and had more freedom to be on the internet again. I was consuming a lot of TikTok and seeing lots of information out there, so I just started creating videos.
What were you most nervous about when you launched your TikTok?
Anytime you’re on the internet, people can misunderstand what you’re saying or skew it in a way that wasn’t what you meant. There will always be people who disagree, whether it’s with your content or who you are as a person. I tend to stay away from very controversial topics because of safety concerns. I’ve monitored myself and my content to not be very polarizing so I don’t get people up in arms with my videos.
What was one of your first videos that really took off where you knew you were onto something?
My first video that got over a million views was about the size of your uterus and how if you feel bloated, it’s not actually your uterus, it’s your intestines.
Social media is an easily accessible way to get information about your body that you might not know otherwise. There are things people think that aren’t medically true, and a quick one minute video can explain it.
How do other doctors and hospital/medical administration feel about TikTok and what you do as a content creator? Is there a stigma? Do they see the value?
My job is super supportive of it. They understand the importance from a global perspective, and on a local level it brings business to our office. People have driven to see me from 5 hours away! Other doctors have been very supportive too. People have approached me in all kinds of settings and thanked me for the work I’m doing.
Have any of your patients ever said they saw one of your TikToks? How do they react?
About five times a day patients will tell me they’ve seen one of my videos. I’ve never had a negative experience with that in person.
Online is different–people are more comfortable saying something negative from behind a screen. But I can flip over my phone and that comment doesn’t exist to me anymore.
How do you react when a patient comes in and says “I saw this TikTok that said…” ?
It’s great! People should use social media to educate themselves on topics and see how it applies to them. I want them to bring it to their doctors. Bring it to a real medical professional. I’m happy to have them do that.
I think physicians should spend more time on social media, learning about the system and how people are navigating medical information in 2024.
How do you balance sharing helpful, educational content with protecting patient privacy?
I don’t share a lot about my own patients. I might share very vague statements, but those are mostly about me and not my patients’ stories. When I’m filming, I use our simulation OR. I can make a day in the life video combining several days and never filming in direct patient areas. I have almost a million followers across all platforms; it would be irresponsible to make any content about someone else.
How do you get ideas for TikToks?
A lot of it comes from people asking questions in the comments. People are looking for this kind of content; I see it in my analytics. Some videos will show that 70% of viewers found it through searches rather than their FYP. Other video ideas come from wanting to correct someone’s wild misinformation. Only about 10% of my videos now are trend-based. TikTok has shifted a lot in the past three years and is less focused on trending sounds lately.
How do you combat misinformation on TikTok?
I want to be entertaining and a little sassy, but I also try not to make it too mean or extremely polarizing. If it’s egregious misinformation, I try to make my video a little sassier. I always want to come from a place of evidence and share the source I’m getting the actual information from.
What’s some of the most concerning medical misinformation you’re seeing on TikTok lately?
From a gynecologist’s point of view, anything about birth control is very concerning as people are losing reproductive rights in this country. The demonization of birth control I find very concerning. It’s not just for controlling birth! It’s also for reproductive health and there are many benefits. When it comes to birth control, I’m always happy to hear patients’ individual experiences. “I didn’t like X about Y type of birth control” is fine, but something like “all birth control is bad” isn’t coming from a place of genuine sharing.
People also downplay the risks of pregnancies online. If they didn’t have a complicated pregnancy, that doesn’t mean others don’t. There are a lot of complicated things that can happen in pregnancy. In the greater scheme of medical misinformation, I found the anti-vax movement during COVID very disheartening.
People do get mad when I say things about not all bodies being made for pregnancy/childbirth. But for every video where one person is mad at me for what I’m saying, there are 10 more people that say “this made me call my doctor to ask about movement” or “this made me take the baby aspirin to avoid preeclampsia.” I get way more support and thankfulness from people looking for information. Some commenters want to say I’m a horrible person providing bad care, but I know I’m not and that I provide great care in real life.
What advice do you have for internet users about vetting what we see online to determine if it’s misinformation or not?
If the video is by someone who is appropriately credentialed in the topic they’re talking about, then listen to them. I get frustrated by things like chiropractors talking about birth control–you are not even trained in this! Take it back to your actual physician who you’ve chosen to take care of you. Talk about how it applies to you, the risks, how concerned you should be, etc.
You decided to share your own IUD placement with viewers on TikTok–how do you navigate how comfortable you are sharing something vulnerable with an online audience?
There’s not a lot of videos of it. I always knew that for some people it was painful, but as an OBGYN I’m cognizant of how many people tolerate placement well or don’t feel anything at all. I wanted to record what my experience was either way. Mine was painless. It’s helpful to see that point of view. People want to see the videos talking about how horrible it is, that’s why there’s more of them.
With sharing my own life, I’ve always focused on sharing the medical side. I shared my pregnancy but focused on the medical side, like the 28 week checkup, getting vaccines, etc. My kids appear in like every 25th video, briefly showing up in a day in the life video or something similar. I’m sharing my life in medicine, what it’s like to be a mom in medicine, etc.
Have you monetized your TikTok? What revenue streams have you pursued?
I’m in the TikTok Creator Fund so I get paid for the views. It’s a nice, steady amount of income. It fluctuates depending on views. Instagram is not monetized currently. I created a Facebook page last year after people mentioned it was well monetized, so I repost all my TikToks there and it’s been a nice, steady income stream as well. I work with brands too, about once or twice a month.
How do you vet brand partnerships and decide if it’s a good fit?
I have an agent to discuss those–I didn’t have the space to do it myself. It felt like me as a person deciding on price and doing negotiations instead of Dr. Fran the brand, which was hard. When I decide on fit, I look at: is this something I talk about in daily life already? For example, supplement brands don't feel like a good or right fit for me.
Partnerships also have to be something I can talk about freely and have autonomy. I can’t have someone tell me exactly what to say. In the health/medical space, there aren't as many brand opportunities as say, beauty or fashion. I’m not being sent on any glamorous content creator trips!
What are some brand partnerships you’re proud of?
I was really excited to partner with March of Dimes to talk about doulas. Another exciting opportunity was working with OPill, the over-the-counter birth control.
Recently, I was invited to TikTok headquarters in New York City to talk to folks in healthcare marketing, which was a really cool and surreal experience.
As a content creator, what differences have you observed between TikTok and Meta platforms?
Meta is very unhelpful. My Facebook page was hacked recently and I’m still trying to get a hold of anyone there. In some ways it’s easier to grow on platforms like Facebook just given how many people are there. But their tools are not easy or intuitive to use. I create and edit in TikTok and share those videos elsewhere.
What words of advice would you give to other doctors/medical professionals who want to start creating content on TikTok?
You just have to start. If you’re a regular consumer of videos, you have a general idea of what draws your interest. You need some kind of hook into the video. Make your video look somewhat aesthetically pleasing. Film in natural light. Do a little editing to remove all your pauses. Very basic things. For getting content ideas, just talking about what your patients are asking about is a great place to start. For the first 6-7 months, I didn’t do amazing. It takes time.
I think everyone should be on the internet. In a single day of work, I can talk to 25 patients, but I can reach millions through social media. Translating medical/scientific jargon into daily speak is a huge part of our training, so it’s not that hard to apply that to talking to patients through a screen. People often feel like they know me better after seeing my videos.
Who are some of your favorite content creators to watch on TikTok, medical or otherwise?
There’s a personal assistant in NYC who talks about shopping for her boss and has a similar style for all her videos. It’s so different from the content I create, but I love to watch it. I follow dermatologists to see what I can learn for my own skin. I collaborate with other OBGYNs on content. I try to follow anyone who’s a content creator and leaves a comment on my video so I can build relationships. I’m friends with a lot of doulas online too. Getting to know other creators is a big part of being a content creator.
Any final thoughts?
For me, social media is a business. Many people in medicine feel kind of stuck. 5-10 years ago, the only way to practice medicine was in an office. That sometimes leaves people feeling burned out but with no alternatives. I’m now earning more from social media than I do from being a full-time OBGYN. I also might be able to find a better work-life balance in the future. If some doctors thought about social media as a business and a way to diversify their possibilities, they might be inclined to pursue it too.
