Poll: YOU are on the residency selection committee. What would YOU do?
As an attending physician, you are friends with nurses and residents on social media.
One day, you are browsing through your social media page. You came across a photo of a student - a candidate applying to your program in fact - scantily clad, inebriated, dancing in a rave. The comments followed agreed on how wild he/she had partied and drank that night.
You are on the selection committee. Should this information be part of the assessment of the candidate?
Please explain your decision in the comments section.
The student's social life has no bearing on their ability to do the job; it's not clear when this picture dates from, either, so it may not be contemporary. As long as their activities outside work are legal and have no impact on work performance, I don't see that it's relevent.
Proper use of social media needs to be discussed with the student, but shouldn't be on an evaluation. I know of students/colleagues in the past who have been in similar or worse situations. How do I put this? "Career-destructive" behavior will manifest in other, more overt ways than participating in Burning Man.
Excellent points. I tend to agree with you that there is a "proper way" to use social media if you are a medical student, resident, and attending physician. The ultimate concept is that whether you want to or not the public looks to you, the physician or physician-in-training, to be a public role model. Ideally I try to draw a line between my personal and professional persona. So as a simple first step, don't make your Facebook account public. Only share personal things with those whom you have "friended".
So I think if you got access this student's photo, which was not public, I think this is ok. I do agree @SFTox's point that it should still be discussed with the student (the fact that her photo was accessible to a potential employer). Also, the photo may be just the tip of the "too much sharing" iceberg.
This is a tough issue to deal with. Lots of gray areas.
I wouldn't judge them harshly for having a private life. Everyone's entitled to that.
However, social media presents a lot of opportunities to make private information public. This is particularly relevant to people who are entrusted with protected information--doctors and nurses are some of the most visible examples. (The Facebook placenta case leaps to mind.) Ambiguous situations should be avoided.
If this person isn't keeping track of their own social media presence--actively policing photos in which they're tagged and monitoring privacy settings on photos they post--that's not a good sign. It doesn't mean they're not a great person or that they wouldn't be a great physician.
What it does mean is that the likelihood that they would let private information slip unintentionally is higher than with someone who was putting in the time to monitor (and even learn to monitor, with privacy settings changing so fast) their online presence.
When I Google myself, I know what I want to see, and when that doesn't line up with reality, it's time to get aggressive about developing higher-ranking and more positive pages in the search index. Wishful thinking won't change that picture of myself with awful hair and my real name that my college still has on Flickr and won't take down. I can only imagine how much of a hassle it would be to put a less boring genie back in the bottle.
In case you don't subscribe to @movinmeat or @grahamwalker on Twitter, here are their comments:
@movinmeat: No dilemma there. You have described behavior that is legal and common among young adults. There is no basis for prejudice there. This assumes the case is as innocuous as presence at a party & EtOH intake. Drug use or other clear bad judgement is another thing. But again, the employer is on shaky ground assuming that the "rave" is evidence of drug use or other impermissible behavior. If employers deselect candidates on skimpy social media surveys they will deprive themselves of good employees.
@grahamwalker: Agree with Shadow. I also have been known to cut quite a rug while being completely sober, too.
@kristophine: It's definitely worth monitoring one's social media and Google presence (good thing I have a very common name). Increasingly it sounds like businesses are looking at these sources when looking at their applicants.
There is gray here. While we all can do silly things (not everyone can dance like Graham), sometimes it is hard to draw the line between innocent fun and what's potentially unprofessional. Professional standard also depends on whose standard - peers, your students/attending, patients (25 versus 90yo).
Employers in business and law are now visiting social media sites to look for information of their candidates - a lot apparently can be glimpsed from your profile page (or just photo alone). Whether it is formal or not, it certainly has the potential to change judgement.
Interesting that you bring up a public and private page. I kind of do this by using Facebook for professional posts (like for this blog) and very occasional commenting on friends' posts. I use Google Plus for personal posts. Google Plus has "circles" which allows you to easily decide who reads each of your posts. In full disclosure, I haven't used Google Plus a lot yet except for posting a few photos to friends.
Here's a post on KevinMD's blog about why Google Plus may be an option to develop one's professional persona. http://www.kevinmd.com/blog/2011/06/google-circles-physicians-embrace-google.html
Most of our applicants are dedicated young people who have given up much of the social fun that people in their 20's participate in in favour of medical training. I don't think we need to worry if they occasionally participate in the exact same activities the majority of their peer group. In this case raves are legal, alcohol is legal and the clothing young people wear is legal, so we have no basis to use this information for the purposes of including or excluding the candidate.
Most large firms that vet applicants social media have moved to using third parties to do this work. Social media contains much information and often information that employers may not wish to have. There is a fine line between excluding a candidate for being 'scantily clad' and excluding her for being female. There is a fine line between exclusion for pictures of dancing at a rave, and pictures of dancing with someone of the same sex at a rave. Employers, or residency programs, that use this information risk discrimination lawsuits, and particularly in informal hiring environments such as residency programs, I would caution against over use of social media for screening applicants. Dr. J
Thanks for presenting another factor to consider, Dr J. How do we then factor in the AMA Social Media policy? (I don't have a good answer.) The last item is:
"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."
Here's my brief review of the AMA Social Media policy: http://academiclifeinem.blogspot.com/2010/11/pros-and-cons-of-social-media-use-in.html
Thanks for your valid points (yes, don't we all understand delayed gratification). I agree, it is a fine line to decide what to include and what not to. And most residents/students are hardworking and completely deserve fun in their downtime.
The question is, what if there is something potentially 'unprofessional' (subjective standard agreed), do we want to know about it at all ?
What if it is a resident in the program who is not doing well? Should that information of them partying be used in their feedback?
I have no answer to those questions (hence the poll). Thank you for the comments so far. Love to hear what yes-sayers think.
I'm a resident in a Canadian Emergency Medicine program. From doing an extensive lit review on use of Social Media and Facebook particularly (as preparation for a manuscript) - it seems that senior educators/academic are more concerned about preserving the untarnished professional image of physicians in general. Social media is a digital extension of our daily life... it's here it's not the future.
However I'd have to say that because we've digitized our identity and become open to much more scrutiny - it's more important to remind students and residents to maintain high security setting and de-publicize pictures/information AS Opposed to punishing them for having some NORMAL fun!
Personally, I'd say that our program could actually use a few more fans of electronic music as I seem to be the only one, so this photo might actually ENHANCE their application if I was the one in charge, haha.
The student's social life has no bearing on their ability to do the job; it's not clear when this picture dates from, either, so it may not be contemporary. As long as their activities outside work are legal and have no impact on work performance, I don't see that it's relevent.
ReplyDeleteProper use of social media needs to be discussed with the student, but shouldn't be on an evaluation. I know of students/colleagues in the past who have been in similar or worse situations. How do I put this? "Career-destructive" behavior will manifest in other, more overt ways than participating in Burning Man.
ReplyDeleteExcellent points. I tend to agree with you that there is a "proper way" to use social media if you are a medical student, resident, and attending physician. The ultimate concept is that whether you want to or not the public looks to you, the physician or physician-in-training, to be a public role model. Ideally I try to draw a line between my personal and professional persona. So as a simple first step, don't make your Facebook account public. Only share personal things with those whom you have "friended".
ReplyDeleteSo I think if you got access this student's photo, which was not public, I think this is ok. I do agree @SFTox's point that it should still be discussed with the student (the fact that her photo was accessible to a potential employer). Also, the photo may be just the tip of the "too much sharing" iceberg.
This is a tough issue to deal with. Lots of gray areas.
I wouldn't judge them harshly for having a private life. Everyone's entitled to that.
ReplyDeleteHowever, social media presents a lot of opportunities to make private information public. This is particularly relevant to people who are entrusted with protected information--doctors and nurses are some of the most visible examples. (The Facebook placenta case leaps to mind.) Ambiguous situations should be avoided.
If this person isn't keeping track of their own social media presence--actively policing photos in which they're tagged and monitoring privacy settings on photos they post--that's not a good sign. It doesn't mean they're not a great person or that they wouldn't be a great physician.
What it does mean is that the likelihood that they would let private information slip unintentionally is higher than with someone who was putting in the time to monitor (and even learn to monitor, with privacy settings changing so fast) their online presence.
When I Google myself, I know what I want to see, and when that doesn't line up with reality, it's time to get aggressive about developing higher-ranking and more positive pages in the search index. Wishful thinking won't change that picture of myself with awful hair and my real name that my college still has on Flickr and won't take down. I can only imagine how much of a hassle it would be to put a less boring genie back in the bottle.
In case you don't subscribe to @movinmeat or @grahamwalker on Twitter, here are their comments:
ReplyDelete@movinmeat: No dilemma there. You have described behavior that is legal and common among young adults. There is no basis for prejudice there. This assumes the case is as innocuous as presence at a party & EtOH intake. Drug use or other clear bad judgement is another thing. But again, the employer is on shaky ground assuming that the "rave" is evidence of drug use or other impermissible behavior. If employers deselect candidates on skimpy social media surveys they will deprive themselves of good employees.
@grahamwalker: Agree with Shadow. I also have been known to cut quite a rug while being completely sober, too.
@kristophine: It's definitely worth monitoring one's social media and Google presence (good thing I have a very common name). Increasingly it sounds like businesses are looking at these sources when looking at their applicants.
ReplyDeleteThank you all for your thoughtful comments.
ReplyDeleteThere is gray here. While we all can do silly things (not everyone can dance like Graham), sometimes it is hard to draw the line between innocent fun and what's potentially unprofessional. Professional standard also depends on whose standard - peers, your students/attending, patients (25 versus 90yo).
Employers in business and law are now visiting social media sites to look for information of their candidates - a lot apparently can be glimpsed from your profile page (or just photo alone). Whether it is formal or not, it certainly has the potential to change judgement.
Hmmm, maybe both a public and private page?
Interesting that you bring up a public and private page. I kind of do this by using Facebook for professional posts (like for this blog) and very occasional commenting on friends' posts. I use Google Plus for personal posts. Google Plus has "circles" which allows you to easily decide who reads each of your posts. In full disclosure, I haven't used Google Plus a lot yet except for posting a few photos to friends.
ReplyDeleteHere's a post on KevinMD's blog about why Google Plus may be an option to develop one's professional persona. http://www.kevinmd.com/blog/2011/06/google-circles-physicians-embrace-google.html
Most of our applicants are dedicated young people who have given up much of the social fun that people in their 20's participate in in favour of medical training. I don't think we need to worry if they occasionally participate in the exact same activities the majority of their peer group. In this case raves are legal, alcohol is legal and the clothing young people wear is legal, so we have no basis to use this information for the purposes of including or excluding the candidate.
ReplyDeleteMost large firms that vet applicants social media have moved to using third parties to do this work. Social media contains much information and often information that employers may not wish to have. There is a fine line between excluding a candidate for being 'scantily clad' and excluding her for being female. There is a fine line between exclusion for pictures of dancing at a rave, and pictures of dancing with someone of the same sex at a rave. Employers, or residency programs, that use this information risk discrimination lawsuits, and particularly in informal hiring environments such as residency programs, I would caution against over use of social media for screening applicants.
Dr. J
Thanks for presenting another factor to consider, Dr J. How do we then factor in the AMA Social Media policy? (I don't have a good answer.) The last item is:
ReplyDelete"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."
Here's my brief review of the AMA Social Media policy:
http://academiclifeinem.blogspot.com/2010/11/pros-and-cons-of-social-media-use-in.html
Dr. J,
ReplyDeleteThanks for your valid points (yes, don't we all understand delayed gratification). I agree, it is a fine line to decide what to include and what not to. And most residents/students are hardworking and completely deserve fun in their downtime.
The question is, what if there is something potentially 'unprofessional' (subjective standard agreed), do we want to know about it at all ?
What if it is a resident in the program who is not doing well? Should that information of them partying be used in their feedback?
I have no answer to those questions (hence the poll). Thank you for the comments so far. Love to hear what yes-sayers think.
I'm a resident in a Canadian Emergency Medicine program. From doing an extensive lit review on use of Social Media and Facebook particularly (as preparation for a manuscript) - it seems that senior educators/academic are more concerned about preserving the untarnished professional image of physicians in general. Social media is a digital extension of our daily life... it's here it's not the future.
ReplyDeleteHowever I'd have to say that because we've digitized our identity and become open to much more scrutiny - it's more important to remind students and residents to maintain high security setting and de-publicize pictures/information AS Opposed to punishing them for having some NORMAL fun!
Excellent point. It's all about knowing our digital identity.
ReplyDeletePersonally, I'd say that our program could actually use a few more fans of electronic music as I seem to be the only one, so this photo might actually ENHANCE their application if I was the one in charge, haha.
ReplyDelete@ER Jedi: Ah, that explains a lot about you. Wait, doesn't everyone love electronic music?
ReplyDelete