How Social Media can be used by Health Professionals and also the problems it might create
So why am I writing this? My purpose is simple. I want to use this unfortunate recent event and my own experience as an example to demonstrate that there are valid reasons why people choose to blog, Twitter, and comment using pseudonyms, and those reasons usually do not involve hiding from responsibility for their words.
doctors need to lead the effort, not PR or marketing. Support doctors 110% in your social media efforts, and everyone will reap the rewards that will bring.
It’s unfortunate that some are taking the opposite tack. Banning physician involvement strikes me as poor strategy which will set these institutions back in the long run.
Concerns about the effect of new technology on the doctor—patient relationship were probably being expressed when telephones were first introduced more than 100 years ago. Rather than viewing new technology as a threat, we should use the opportunities it offers to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of health systems
Looking ahead, we believe that more research is required, particularly into the changing relationship between health-care providers and patients, as social media acquires a more prominent role in society, and into potential uses for social media in the delivery of health care.
We’ve hit a point where many physicians on Twitter are looking beyond the cocktail party. There are simply too many of us. As a consequence of nothing other than our numbers, we’re increasingly divergent. Values, interests, and motivations vary – we gravitate to the like-minded.
This post is a call to attention to the pharma industry to start using social media in Latin America in a sensitive but proactive way because in my personal opinion there are great things to accomplish if pharmasdecides to engage in this way. This is also a call to attention to Latin-American’s regulatory agencies to make them aware
60% of responding deans of medical schools reported that medical students had posted unprofessional content online, including: violations of patient confidentiality; use of profanity in reference to specific persons or faculties; discriminatory language; depiction of intoxication; sexually suggestive material; and pictures with illicit substance
Becoming irrelevant because you don’t have a social media presence doesn’t mean you’re not a good physician in the traditional sense, but maybe it’s your rigid tradition that holds you back from being a great one.
If the past two week scales or even maintains the level of new patients (7-10%) entering my office because of my social media presence AND the information presented on my website … then I can emphatically state that the ROI of your time, resources and the presentation of your content in a transparent, meaningful, evidence based (if possible) manner
the meaning of the video is not clear and those individuals often lose faith in the medical system. There have been cases where patients have refused care by a residency trainee after seeing their Facebook profile with images that don’t seem suitable for their doctor.
As important as this is, academics requires junior faculty members to quickly become known on a national stage. Annual meetings are a great way to do this, but they only occur, well, annually. Social media allows me to meet people throughout the year and develop connections that I would never have the opportunity to create.
My opinion is that the same standards apply to social media as apply to the general behavior of medical students and physicians.
Most internet material that I read comes straight from people who I follow on Twitter. And I try to follow people who are much smarter than myself. I don’t like the ‘you follow me, I follow you’ approach that some people advocate. I think hard about how to make Twitter work for me as a serious tool for information management.
Anonymity definitely has its place, but total anonymity? Apparently, not if you want to matter.
I’ve boiled it down to 4 that will help keep you out of trouble.
Never discuss patient-specific issues. Never be anonymous. Remember everyone’s watching Be niceThe board said Monday that the 48-year-old physician wrote on Facebook about some of her clinical experiences at Westerly Hospital, without using patient names or intending to reveal patient information.
But, the board says, one patient's injuries were such that an unidentified third party was able to identify the person.
When it comes to health care and communications technology, in some ways, we are still trying to figure out what's right and what's wrong, and where to draw the line. It's an important discussion that's not to be taken for granted.
In an era of increasing information overload, the filter is a necessary and valuable tool and we’re only at the beginning of the technology curve. In the context of health, filters are critical to improving the effectiveness of the rising class of e-patients.
I networked with other bloggers, went to blogging conferences (after at first scoffing at them--who would go to a blogging conference??? Lame. I've realized, since, how much I love eating my words, or at least, embracing being lame.). I am not sure when my affinity for using parentheses developed.
I have seen and read countless articles, ideas, and opinions that I wouldn't have found without Twitter. Yes, it takes a little time to find good people to follow, and it then takes a little time to actually follow them. But the pay-off in new ideas and inspired thinking is marvelous - far better than the same amount of time on Facebook
I never want a patient or family member to stumble upon anything I write and wonder if I’m writing about them. When I have written about patients, I have asked permission and even then, waited for a period of time before writing about them to avoid the time-stamp the internet provides.
