The DOI matches its Crossref record; 16 of the 16 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
Social media policies at US medical schools
Open accessAbstract
BACKGROUND/PURPOSE: Today's medical students are learning in a social media era in which patient confidentiality is at risk yet schools' social media policies have not been elucidated. The purpose of this study is to describe the presence of medical schools on top social media sites and to identify whether student policies for these schools explicitly address social media use. METHOD: Websites of all 132 accredited US medical schools were independently assessed by two investigators for their presence (as of March 31, 2010) on the most common social networking and microblogging sites (Facebook and Twitter) and their publicly available policies addressing online social networking. Key features from these policies are described. RESULTS: 100% (n=132) of US medical schools had websites and 95.45% (126/132) had any Facebook presence. 25.76% (34/132) had official medical school pages, 71.21% (94/132) had student groups, and 54.55% (72/132) had alumni groups on Facebook. 10.6% of medical schools (14/132) had Twitter accounts. 128 of 132 medical schools (96.97%) had student guidelines or policies publicly available online. 13 of these 128 schools (10.16%) had guidelines/policies explicitly mentioning social media. 38.46% (5/13) of these guidelines included statements that defined what is forbidden, inappropriate, or impermissible under any circumstances, or mentioned strongly discouraged online behaviors. 53.85% (7/13) encouraged thoughtful and responsible social media use. CONCLUSIONS: Medical schools and their students are using social media. Almost all US medical schools have a Facebook presence, yet most do not have policies addressing student online social networking behavior. While social media use rises, policy informing appropriate conduct in medical schools lags behind. Established policies at some medical schools can provide a blueprint for others to adopt and adapt.
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“Various concerns about potential professionalism implications [151-153] exist, particularly related to breaches of patient confidentiality, professional boundaries, and depiction of unprofessional behaviors.”
From Dangers and Benefits of Social Media on E-Professionalism of Health Care Professionals: Scoping Review (2021) · cites this paper as [151]
The cited source says what the claim attributes to it.
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“Ten years ago, many schools lacked policies specific to SM use [151], but nowadays schools have developed specific guidelines [169,170].”
From Dangers and Benefits of Social Media on E-Professionalism of Health Care Professionals: Scoping Review (2021) · cites this paper as [151]
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“Of the 128 schools who had policies publically available online, only 13 (10.16%)had guidelines and/or policies explicitly mentioning social media.”
From e-Professionalism: A New Frontier in Medical Education (2013) · cites this paper as [26]
The cited source says what the claim attributes to it.
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“Five (38.46%) defined unacceptable or strongly discouraged online behaviors, whereas seven (53.85%) encouraged thoughtful and responsible use of social media.”
From e-Professionalism: A New Frontier in Medical Education (2013) · cites this paper as [26]
In the citing paper
“Published social media guidelines by national medical organizations and medical school social media policies often lack specific behavioral guidance or definitions of professionalism as applied to the online space.39,40”
From Social Media and Clinical Care: Ethical, Professional, and Social Implications (2013) · cites this paper as [39]
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Citations
Cites
The Chronicle of Higher Education
Herndon, G. A. (1977) · Serials Review · doi:10.1016/s0098-7913(77)80012-9 · Cited by 4,377
Online Posting of Unprofessional Content by Medical Students
Chretien, K. C. (2009) · JAMA · doi:10.1001/jama.2009.1387 · Cited by 448 · cited 1×
“Online posting of unprofessional content by medical students has been reported and in some cases has resulted in expulsion (10).”
BackgroundSelf-citationThe Intersection of Online Social Networking with Medical Professionalism
Thompson, L. A., Dawson, K., Ferdig, R., Black, E. W., Boyer, J., Coutts, J., & Black, N. P. (2008) · Journal of General Internal Medicine · doi:10.1007/s11606-008-0538-8 · Cited by 425 · cited 1×
“Many trainees allow public access to their personal informational profiles, which contain information that is not usually disclosed in a doctor-patient relationship (11).”
BackgroundTeaching Professionalism in Undergraduate Medical Education
Swick, H. M. (1999) · JAMA · doi:10.1001/jama.282.9.830 · Cited by 338 · cited 1×
“Professionalism curricula abound in undergraduate medical education (15, 16), yet the way medical schools guide student conduct on social media through policies has not been described.”
BackgroundOnline professionalism and the mirror of social media.
Greysen, S. R., Kind, T., & Chretien, K. C. (2010) · Journal of General Internal Medicine · doi:10.1007/s11606-010-1447-1 · Cited by 323 · cited 1×
“Yet that which is reflected in the mirror of social media online is not always clear or appropriate (9).”
BackgroundSelf-citationHow Web 2.0 is changing medicine
Giustini, D. (2006) · BMJ · doi:10.1136/bmj.39062.555405.80 · Cited by 315
Expectations and Obligations: Professionalism and Medicine’s Social Contract with Society
Cruess, R. L., & Cruess, S. R. (2008) · Perspectives in biology and medicine · doi:10.1353/pbm.0.0045 · Cited by 301 · cited 1×
“0 era can provide a blueprint for other schools to adopt and adapt for use, in an effort to maintain medicine’s social contract with society (18).”
BackgroundContent of Weblogs Written by Health Professionals
Lagu, T., Kaufman, E. J., Asch, D. A., & Armstrong, K. (2008) · Journal of General Internal Medicine · doi:10.1007/s11606-008-0726-6 · Cited by 255 · cited 1×
“Medical professionals have also begun blogging that is, creating web-based logs to share information, provide commentary, reflect, and portray events, even with the associated risks of this type of social media (4).”
BackgroundMedical professionalism in the age of online social networking
Guseh, J. S., Brendel, R. W., & Brendel, D. H. (2009) · Journal of Medical Ethics · doi:10.1136/jme.2009.029231 · Cited by 165
What medical educators need to know about “Web 2.0”
McGee, J. B., & Begg, M. J. (2008) · Medical Teacher · doi:10.1080/01421590701881673 · Cited by 154 · cited 2×
“Medical students may be asked to blog for class assignments (8), and medical school course director’s blogs are in use at some schools (6).”
Background
Research works printed but not linked: 2
- Greysen SR, 2010, J Gen Intern Med
- Kao A, 2003, JAMA, 2090, 1151
Cited by
Sorted by citations
Social Media: A Review and Tutorial of Applications in Medicine and Health Care
Grajales III, F. J., Sheps, S., Ho, K., Novak-Lauscher, H., & Eysenbach, G. (2014) · Journal of Medical Internet Research · doi:10.2196/jmir.2912 · Cited by 737
Social Media and Clinical Care: Ethical, Professional, and Social Implications
Chretien, K. C., & Kind, T. (2013) · Circulation · doi:10.1161/circulationaha.112.128017 · Cited by 355
“Published social media guidelines by national medical organizations and medical school social media policies often lack specific behavioral guidance or definitions of professionalism as applied to the online space.(39,40) Physicians active in social media have offered their own guiding principles for online profession…”
BackgroundSelf-citationReviewing social media use by clinicians: Table 1
von Muhlen, M., & Ohno-Machado, L. (2012) · Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association · doi:10.1136/amiajnl-2012-000990 · Cited by 319
Social media and health care, part I: literature review of social media use by health care providers
Farsi, D. (2021) · Journal of Medical Internet Research · doi:10.2196/23205 · Cited by 299
“Once students move beyond structured, supervised learning environments, they must recognize their own gaps in knowledge and skills over time and make every effort to fill them, adopting skills for lifelong learning [106].”
InfluentialVukušić Rukavina, T., Viskić, J., Machala Poplašen, L., Relić, D., Marelić, M., Jokic, D., & Sedak, K. (2021) · Journal of Medical Internet Research · doi:10.2196/25770 · Cited by 199
“Various concerns about potential professionalism implications [151-153] exist, particularly related to breaches of patient confidentiality, professional boundaries, and depiction of unprofessional behaviors.”
Metadata
- Authors
- Kind, T., Genrich, G., Sodhi, A., & Chretien, K. C.
- Affiliations
- Children's National (US)
- University of California, San Francisco (US)
- George Washington University (US)
- Corresponding author
- Kind, Terry
- Venue
- Medical Education Online
- Publisher
- Informa UK Limited
- Published
- 2010-01
- Volume
- 15
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 5324
- ISSN
- 1087-2981 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC2941429
- OpenAlex
- W2031569140
- Cited by
- 161
- References
- 16
- Citations by year
- 2026: 2 · 2025: 2 · 2024: 2 · 2023: 4 · 2022: 7 · 2021: 6 · 2020: 6 · 2019: 7 · 2018: 11 · 2017: 8 · 2016: 13 · 2015: 14 · 2014: 22 · 2013: 18 · 2012: 27
- FWCI
- 18.30
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- hybrid
- doi.org
- Licence
- cc-by-nc
- Locations
- Medical Education Online (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion)
- DigitalGeorgetown (Georgetown University Library) (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- Association of American Medical Colleges
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Health › Social Media in Health Education
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Impact of Technology on Adolescents
- Social Sciences › Education › Innovations in Medical Education
- Keywords
- social media policy, medical schools, medical students, Facebook, Twitter, social networking, microblogging, patient confidentiality, online behavior
- MeSH terms
- Confidentiality, Humans, Interpersonal Relations, Schools, Medical, Students, Medical, United States, Organizational Policy, Internet, Blogging
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