Patient-targeted Googling and social media: a cross-sectional study of senior medical students

Potential damage to professional image has been depicted by students as concerns about repercussions of their posts on career development or future employment, since employers are checking social media profiles of candidates.

“Potential damage to the professional image has been depicted by students as concerns about repercussions of their posts on career development or future employment, since employers are checking SM profiles of candidates [43, 45, 51, 56, 57, 59, 66, 68, 70].”

Students are concerned about the extent of representation of their character on social media; they edit profiles before interviews or career fairs or intend to review or modify their profiles when they become qualified.

“Students are concerned about the extent of representation of the students’ character on SM; they edit profiles before interviews or career fairs [57,70] or intend to review or modify their profiles when they become qualified [45,51].”

Numerous studies document blurred boundaries between patients and health care professionals, and between students and faculty.

“Numerous studies document blurred boundaries between patient and HCPs, and between students and faculty [40, 43, 47, 59, 64, 65, 68, 70, 73, 75, 78, 82, 85, 98, 100, 105, 107, 114, 117].”

Students depict potential damage to professional image as a concern about repercussions of their posts on career development or future employment because employers check social media profiles of candidates.

“Potential damage to professional image has been depicted by students as a concern about repercussions of their posts, on career development, or on future employment since employers are checking SM profiles of candidates [43, 45, 51, 56, 57, 59, 66, 68, 70].”

A wide range of opinions exists on the acceptability of online interaction with patients, ranging from one-third of medical students in Brazil finding it unacceptable to 92% of senior medical students in New Zealand.

“Although online interaction with a patient is generally not acceptable nor endorsed, a wide range of opinions have been observed concerning this issue, ranging from one-third for medical students in Brazil [59] that find this unacceptable to 92% for senior medical students in New Zealand [70].”

Boundaries are blurred between patients and health care professionals, and between students and faculty.

“Boundaries are blurred between patients and HCPs, and between students and faculty [40, 43, 47, 59, 64, 65, 68, 70, 73, 75, 78, 82, 85, 98, 100, 105, 107, 114, 117].”

A wide range of opinions have been observed concerning friending a patient, ranging from one-third of medical students in Brazil finding this unacceptable to 92% of senior medical students in New Zealand.

““Friending a patient” is generally not acceptable nor endorsed; a wide range of opinions have been observed concerning this issue, ranging from one-third for medical students in Brazil [59] that find this unacceptable to 92% for senior medical students in New Zealand [70].”

In Chester et al's study, 16.7% of respondents had conducted patient-targeted Googling.

“Results of this study show that 16.7% of respondents had conducted patient-targeted Googling.”

There is some evidence of an association between social networking site use and likelihood of patient-targeted Googling, with high social networking site users more likely to conduct patient-targeted Googling, but the observations were made on a small number of observations.

“There is some evidence of an association between SNS use and likelihood of patient-targeted Googling, with high SNS users more likely to conduct patient-targeted Googling, but as the authors acknowledge, their observations were made on a small number of observations.”