In the era of social media: is it time to establish a code of online ethical conduct for healthcare professionals?
Open accessAbstract
Social media is becoming an invasive part of the lives of many professionals including those in the healthcare field. One of the countless implications of such an invasion is how the healthcare professional's engagement with social media affects the traditional doctor-patient relationship. The online presence of professionals should be carefully self-monitored as it affects the individual's reputation and society's perception of their profession. Therefore, the contents of public and personal accounts must differ according to their purpose. In the public eye, conflicts of interest must be declared and scientifically-based medical advice should be clearly differentiated from experience-based advice, personal opinions or commercial advertisements. Online doctor-patient relationships risk the privacy of patients as well as the personal privacy of the healthcare professional. Personal accounts created for friends and family should be kept separate from public accounts created for educational, professional or commercial purposes. Published educational material should be clearly differentiated from commercial material so that it is easier for the public to make an informed decision. This paper proposes a code of online ethical conduct to be implemented in Oman.
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Background
- Authors
- Al-Balushi, A. A.
- Affiliations
- Muscat Directorate of General Health Services, Ministry of Health, Muscat, Oman
- Venue
- Sultan Qaboos University medical journal
- Publisher
- Sultan Qaboos University
- Published
- 2020-09-03
- Volume
- 20
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- e25-28
- ISSN
- 2075-051X (ISSN-L)
- 2075-0528
- PMC
- PMC7065697
- OpenAlex
- W3011629272
- Cited by
- 15
- References
- 22
- Citations by year
- 2025: 2 · 2024: 4 · 2023: 4 · 2022: 5
- FWCI
- 1.25
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- diamond
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- Sultan Qaboos University medical journal (publishedVersion, cc-by-nd)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion, cc-by-nd)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by-nd)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Health › Social Media in Health Education
- Life Sciences › Pharmacology, Toxicology and Pharmaceutics › Pharmacology › Pharmaceutical industry and healthcare
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health › Medical and Health Sciences Research
- Keywords
- social media, healthcare workers, internet ethics, codes of conduct, physician-patient relationship, professional reputation, conflicts of interest, patient privacy, Oman
- MeSH terms
- Female, Health Personnel, Humans, Male, Oman, Physician-Patient Relations, Privacy, Codes of Ethics, Trust, Social Media
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