Guidelines for maintaining a professional compass in the era of social networking
Open accessAbstract
Objectives The use of social networking (SN) sites, such as Facebook and Twitter, has skyrocketed during the past 5 years, with more than 400 million current users. What was once isolated to high schools or college campuses has become increasingly ubiquitous in everyday life and across a multitude of industries. Medical centers and residency programs are not immune to this invasion. These sites present opportunities for the rapid dissemination of information from status updates, to tweets, to medical support groups, and even clinical communication between patients and providers. Although powerful, this technology also opens the door for misuse and policies for use will be necessary. We strive to begin a discourse in the surgical community in regard to maintaining professionalism while using SN sites.Results The use of SN sites among surgical house staff and faculty has not been addressed previously. To that end, we sought to ascertain the use of the SN site Facebook at our residency program. Of 88 residents and 127 faculty, 56 (64%) and 28 (22%), respectively, have pages on Facebook. Of these, 50% are publicly accessible. Thirty-one percent of the publicly accessible pages had work-related comments posted, and of these comments, 14% referenced specific patient situations or were related to patient care.Conclusions Given the widespread use of SN websites in our surgical community and in society as a whole, every effort should be made to guard against professional truancy. We offer a set of guidelines consistent with the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education and the American College of Surgeons professionalism mandates in regard to usage of these websites. By acknowledging this need and by following these guidelines, surgeons will continue to define and uphold ethical boundaries and thus demonstrate a commitment to patient privacy and the highest levels of professionalism.
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A broad review of the health care social media literature reveals that consensus is building around a number of principles that may help guide informed, appropriate professional health care social media use.
“However, a broad review of the health care social media literature reveals that consensus is building around a number of principles that may help guide informed, appropriate professional health care social media use.29 -32”
From Professionalism in a Digital Age: Opportunities and Considerations for Using Social Media in Health Care (2015) · cites this paper as [31]
The current survey results confirm previous reports that physicians in training use social media networks more commonly than faculty.
“confirm previous reports that physicians in training use social media networks more commonly than faculty [13–16].”
From Who’s misbehaving? Perceptions of unprofessional social media use by medical students and faculty (2016) · cites this paper as [14]
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- Authors
- Landman, M. P., Shelton, J., Kauffmann, R. M., & Dattilo, J. B.
- Affiliations
- Vanderbilt University Medical Center (US)
- Vanderbilt University (US)
- Venue
- Journal of surgical education
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2010-11
- Volume
- 67
- Issue
- 6
- Pages
- 381-386
- ISSN
- 1878-7452 (ISSN-L)
- 1931-7204
- PMC
- PMC4000745
- OpenAlex
- W2007169794
- Cited by
- 72
- References
- 19
- Citations by year
- 2024: 1 · 2022: 1 · 2021: 4 · 2020: 2 · 2019: 3 · 2018: 5 · 2017: 2 · 2016: 4 · 2015: 9 · 2014: 14 · 2013: 10 · 2012: 14
- FWCI
- 8.64
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
- Locations
- Journal of surgical education (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (acceptedVersion)
- PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
- Funders
- Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (T32 HS013833-08)
- National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (T32DK007061)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Health › Social Media in Health Education
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Impact of Technology on Adolescents
- Social Sciences › Demography › Cyberloafing and Workplace Behavior
- Keywords
- social networking sites, Facebook, professionalism, surgical residency, patient privacy, professional boundaries, online patient communication, social media policy, Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education, American College of Surgeons
- MeSH terms
- Academic Medical Centers, Adult, Cross-Sectional Studies, Faculty, Medical, Female, Humans, Internship and Residency, Male, Middle Aged, Professional Competence, Surveys and Questionnaires, Social Support, General Surgery, Tennessee, Guidelines as Topic, Internet
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