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RETRACTED: Prevalence of unprofessional social media content among young vascular surgeons

Open access
Hardouin, Scott, Cheng, Thomas W., Mitchell, Erica L., Raulli, Stephen J., Jones, Douglas W., Siracuse, Jeffrey J., Farber, Alik·2020·Journal of Vascular Surgery
DOI 10.1016/j.jvs.2019.10.069
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Abstract

OBJECTIVE It has been demonstrated that publicly available social media content may affect patient choice of physician, hospital, and medical facility. Furthermore, such content has the potential to affect professional reputation among peers and employers. Our goal was to evaluate the extent of unprofessional social media content among recent vascular surgery fellows and residents. METHODS The Association of Program Directors in Vascular Surgery directory was used to compile a list of graduating vascular surgery trainees from 2016 to 2018. Neutral Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram accounts were used to search for publicly available information. All content was screened by two separate investigators for prespecified clearly unprofessional or potentially unprofessional content. Clearly unprofessional content included: Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act violations, intoxicated appearance, unlawful behavior, possession of drugs or drug paraphernalia, and uncensored profanity or offensive comments about colleagues/work/patients. Potentially unprofessional content included: holding/consuming alcohol, inappropriate attire, censored profanity, controversial political or religious comments, and controversial social topics. Descriptive data were compiled and Fisher exact test was used for categorical comparisons. RESULTS There were 480 vascular surgeons identified. 325 (68%) were male, 456 (95%) held MD degrees, and 115 (24%) were integrated (0 + 5) vascular surgery residents. Of these, 235 had publicly identifiable social media accounts across all platforms. Sixty-one (26%) account holders had either clearly unprofessional or potentially unprofessional content. Eight accounts (3.4%) contained content categorized as clearly unprofessional: obvious alcohol intoxication in three Facebook accounts and uncensored profanity or offensive comments about colleagues/work/patients in one Facebook and five Twitter accounts. Potentially unprofessional content appeared in 58 accounts (25%) and included holding/consuming alcohol (29 accounts, 12.3%), controversial political comments (22 accounts, 9.4%), inappropriate/offensive attire (nine accounts, 3.8%), censored profanity (eight accounts, 3.4%), controversial social topics (six accounts, 2.5%), and controversial religious comments (two accounts, .9%). There was no significant difference in unprofessional content across sex, training paradigm (MD vs non-MD), or residency track (0 + 5 or 5 + 2; all P > .05). However, there was more unprofessional content for those who self-identified as vascular surgeons (33% vs 17%; P = .007). CONCLUSIONS One-half of recent and soon to be graduating vascular surgery trainees had an identifiable social media account with more than one-quarter of these containing unprofessional content. Account holders who self-identified as vascular surgeons were more likely to be associated with unprofessional social media behavior. Young surgeons should be aware of the permanent public exposure of unprofessional content that can be accessed by peers, patients, and current/future employers.

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Crossref · 10.1016/j.jvs.2019.10.069This paper is marked retracted.

Cites

7 of 7 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

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  • In the potentially unprofessional category of Hardouin et al's study, images of trainees in swimwear (bikinis) screened in the research were included.

    “In the “potentially unprofessional” category, images of trainees in swimwear (bikinis) screened in the research were included.”

    From Dangers and Benefits of Social Media on E-Professionalism of Health Care Professionals: Scoping Review (2021) · cites this paper as [159]

  • The retracted study ultimately reflected generational differences in what is considered appropriate online behavior for healthcare professionals.

    “Although not the intention, it did ultimately reflect generational differences in what is considered appropriate online behavior for healthcare professionals.15,16”

    From Evaluating perceptions of social media professionalism by healthcare workers (2026) · cites this paper as [16]

  • A recent study, although retracted, evaluated publicly accessed social media accounts of young vascular surgery trainees for professionalism.

    “This generational phenomenon is highlighted by a recent study that, although retracted for issues involving bias and unethical experimental design, evaluated the publicly accessed social media accounts of young vascular surgery trainees for professionalism.”

    From Evaluating perceptions of social media professionalism by healthcare workers (2026) · cites this paper as [16]

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Related

Authors
Hardouin, S., Cheng, T. W., Mitchell, E. L., Raulli, S. J., Jones, D. W., Siracuse, J. J., & Farber, A.
Affiliations
Boston University (US)
ORCID
Venue
Journal of Vascular Surgery
Publisher
Elsevier BV
Published
2020-08
Volume
72
Issue
2
Pages
667-671
ISSN
0741-5214 (ISSN-L)
DOI
10.1016/j.jvs.2019.10.069
OpenAlex
W2917273123
Semantic Scholar
d0b0c9523569a354dbc80a53df20b5848ff7965a
Cited by
100
References
7
Citations by year
2026: 1 · 2025: 5 · 2024: 10 · 2023: 11 · 2022: 12 · 2021: 35 · 2020: 24 · 2019: 1
FWCI
17.48
Type
journal article
Language
en
Status
Retracted
Update notices
Open access
Licence
Locations
  • Journal of Vascular Surgery (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Health › Social Media in Health Education
  • Social Sciences › Gender Studies › Diversity and Career in Medicine
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health › Innovations in Medical Education
Keywords
medical professionalism, social media, vascular surgeons, young physicians, retraction, research misconduct, gender bias, diversity in medicine, peer review failure

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