Physicians should weigh a number of considerations when maintaining a presence online:
- Physicians should be cognizant of standards of patient privacy and confidentiality that must be maintained in all environments, including online, and must refrain from posting identifiable patient information online.
- When using the Internet for social networking, physicians should use privacy settings to safeguard personal information and content to the extent possible, but should realize that privacy settings are not absolute and that once on the Internet, content is likely there permanently. Thus, physicians should routinely monitor their own Internet presence to ensure that the personal and professional information on their own sites and, to the extent possible, content posted about them by others, is accurate and appropriate.
- If they interact with patients on the Internet, physicians must maintain appropriate boundaries of the patient-physician relationship in accordance with professional ethical guidelines just, as they would in any other context.
- To maintain appropriate professional boundaries physicians should consider separating personal and professional content online.
- When physicians see content posted by colleagues that appears unprofessional they have a responsibility to bring that content to the attention of the individual, so that he or she can remove it and/or take other appropriate actions. If the behavior significantly violates professional norms and the individual does not take appropriate action to resolve the situation, the physician should report the matter to appropriate authorities.
- Physicians must recognize that actions online and content posted may negatively affect their reputations among patients and colleagues, may have consequences for their medical careers (particularly for physicians-in-training and medical students), and can undermine public trust in the medical profession.
On the flip side, Greysen et al wrote a nice commentary piece in the Journal of General Internal Medicine about the positive applications of social media in Medicine.
- Provide insightful and respectful reflection narratives about clinical experiences that maintain patient anonymity.
- Promote quality improvement and patient safety guidelines
- Serve as a trustworthy source of medical information to balance less-reliable online resources
Social media is here to stay. Let's figure out how to work with it rather than avoid it.
Reference
Greysen SR, Kind T, & Chretien KC (2010). Online professionalism and the mirror of social media. J Gen Int Med, 25 (11), 1227-9.
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"Provide insightful and respectful reflection narratives about clinical experiences that maintain patient anonymity."
ReplyDeleteHaving recently started my own blog to write about some of my experiences in EM, I occasionally struggle with the defining where one crosses that gray line of what becomes disrespectful. In person, yes, its obvious as to what is respectful and what is not, but when you are sitting around with colleagues, at what point does a funny story cross that line? What about here on the internet? The point of my blog is to serve as personal journal of my experiences in this career, but it is open to the public. Funny things happen, some patients or situations are amusing, or even comical, or just so far out there that you can't help but laugh. I want to write about these things, as its the people and their stories that make this job truly interesting to me, but is it wrong to talk about these patients in an open forum such as a blog?
I don't know if there is an easy answer to that, but its something I try to think about when writing.
Hey James: You eloquently describe the gray zone. Reflecting about patient experiences is a tricky thing. Some would say that as long as it's anonymous and not blatantly rude, it's ok to post. I'm a LOT more conservative and think -- if my patients or my future employer were to read my post, is there a chance that one would be offended? If yes, I avoid posting. In this case, the downsides of posting are much worse than the upsides.
ReplyDeleteAlso humor is such a tricky thing. Out of context and without a medical background, what may be funny to physicians often doesn't translate to humor for the public.
In the end, it's your personal judgment. That's partly the reason I stick with more educational and academic stuff on my blog. My 2 cents.
nice post, pleasure to read..
ReplyDelete