Like everybody else, physicians are expanding their online personal identities. At the same time, they are trying to comply with codes of conduct that help consumers trust them and their profession.
In a recent study for example, 17% of all blogs authored by health professionals were found to include personally identifiable information about patients. Scores of physicians have been reprimanded for posting similar information on Twitter and Facebook, posting lewd pictures of themselves online, tweeting about late night escapades which ended hours before they performed surgery, and other unsavory behaviors.
As I mentioned Monday, medical students and younger physicians who grew up with the Internet have to be particularly careful, since they had established personal online??identities before accepting the professional responsibilities that came with their medical degree.
Medical schools, residency programs and teaching hospitals can help young professionals manage their dual lives online. Some have implemented curricula and policies that foster appropriate use of social media, but surprisingly these programs are not widespread. In a recent study of medical schools that had experienced at least one incident in which a student used social media inappropriately, only 38% had adopted formal policies to handle future incidents. An additional 11% reported they were developing such policies. We can do better than this.
Non-teaching hospitals, CME providers and professional organizations like the American Medical Association can also help providers navigate the online world. The AMAa??s recent guide to Professionalism in the Use of Social Media provides helpful guidance in this regard.
What You Can Do Now
Frankly, this is not something that can wait. If you havena??t already done so,??you should immediately take steps to assure your personal online identity doesna??t threaten your professional identity, your patientsa?? rights to privacy, and other responsibilities you have as a physician. Here are some tips for getting started.
1-Look Before You Leap. If you are just starting to expand your online personal identity (say, by registering for a Twitter account), dona??t feel compelled to lay yourself out there right away. Therea??s nothing about Twitter or Facebook that requires you to do anything after you register (nor for that matter, is anyone compelling you to generate searchable events like comments??on??newspaper articles, donating to political campaigns and so on).??A quiet listening period up front allows you to get a feel for things before taking part. After a few days of following the tweets and posts of others, particularly other physicians, youa??ll get a sense for etiquette and social boundaries.
Remember that if you see content posted by a colleague that you think is unprofessional, you should inform him or her. After that, ita??s up to them to remove it or take other appropriate actions.
2-Review and Maintain your Online Profile. This advice appears in the AMA guidelines and is the centerpiece of a recent article on the subject by Arash Mostaghimi and Bradley Crotty.
The recommendation amounts to??carrying-out an electronic self-audit of your online identity and taking action to create a a??dual online citizenshipa?? to the extent possible. Often, a simple search of your name on Google or Bing is sufficient for the audit. If the audit reveals a relatively sparse professional footprint online, you can beef it up by creating a web page for your office, posting your CV online, posting information about yourself on Google Profiles, starting a professional blog, and so on. You may also need to address personal issues that show up during the audit as well. Finding these issues is a key reason for doing the audit in the first place.
3-Go Ahead! Answer General Questions from Patients Online.?? Ita??s safe and reasonable for you to answer general questions like a??What is heart failure?a?? and a??When is the right age to get a mammogram?a??, so long as you do not include individually-identifiable information about a patient. Just remember that existing and prospective patients read this stuff, so make it good!
4-Think Twice before Using Social Networking Sites to Communicate with Patients. Companies like Facebook and Twitter control the information posted on their sites. The same goes for search engine companies, who are having a field-day with your online search behavior as we speak. These companiesa???? privacy and security policies have been criticized as flimsy and capricious. Once you post something, it can be nearly impossible to delete it completely.
That said, social networking sites are great platforms for your general announcements like the addition of a staff member, flu shot availability and matters of public health.
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