Physicians started to cautiously enter the social media space beginning around 2005 – most blogging anonymously – but today doctors are beginning to embrace the technology as a way to make a difference in patient education.
Healthcare IT News spoke to six physicians who blog professionally and asked them questions on some hot topics around social media.
Mike Sevilla, MD, a family physician and social media enthusiast. Sevilla used to blog as Dr. Anonymous, but has recently started a new blog called Family Medicine Rocks.
Howard J. Luks, MD, is a board-certified orthopedic surgeon and an associate professor of Orthopedic Surgery at New York Medical College. Luks is a digital strategist, who was an early adopter and advocate of social media in healthcare.
Jeffrey Parks MD, is a board certified general surgeon from Ohio. His blog is called The Buckeye Surgeon and his comments are from Rules for Case Blogging.
Katherine Chretien MD, is an internist in Washington D.C., and editor of the blog Mothers in Medicine.
Kevin Pho, MD is board certified in internal medicine and practices primary care in Nashua, N.H. He is the founder of KevinMD.
Westby G. Fisher, MD, is a board certified internist, cardiologist, and cardiac electrophysiologist practicing at NorthShore University HealthSystem in Evanston, Ill., His blog is called Dr. Wes. His comments are from a guest blog on KevinMD called “Twitter for doctors, a guide for healthcare professionals.”
Do you think physicians have an obligation to use social media?
Sevilla: I do. There is a lot of misinformation out there. If physicians wrote one blog post a year on say the topic of autism and vaccines, they could overthrow the search engines with the right and correct information.
Luks: The information available to patients right now is too commercialized, frequently wrong and sometimes harmful. Physicians have a moral obligation to correct that information in the office, and it is not a big jump to make that information publicly available through social media.
Pho: Doctors have an obligation to connect with patients online, but this does not mean talk to. Doctors have a responsibility to guide patients to better sources of information online.
What is your social media policy or “rules of thumb” that you adhere to?
Sevilla: Absolutely don’t talk about patients and don’t be anonymous.
Luks: You need to understand the ramifications of hitting the enter button. What is put on Twitter stays on Twitter. Physicians can’t mention any personal health information and shouldn’t assume they are capable of de-identifying.
Chretien: Don’t post identifiable patient information and get patient permission if you do share patient information.
Parks: For cases that involve detailed, individualized descriptions of the operation, post-op events, and eventual recovery phase, discuss your plans to blog about it with the actual patient. Even let them read the post before you publish it.
Fisher: Do not EVER post patient information. Tweets are public and searchable on Google.
Should physicians starting in medical school be educated about social media?
Luks: Without a doubt. These institutions need to start with a formal medical policy and find time to bring in lecturers to apprise them of what it is taking place.
Chretien: Absolutely. Medical school is where they start to learn to interact appropriately as a future physician.
Sevilla: If you are applying to medical school or residency the first two things they will do is Google you and Facebook you. If the admission committee doesn’t like what they see they won’t even open your application.
Would you accept a friend request on Facebook from a patient?
Sevilla: Some docs say no, or don’t care. I am in the middle. Docs and patients have been friends for a while.
Luks: You simply can’t. I know there are those that do it. If you talk to healthcare attorneys they will all say the same thing: You can’t accept your patients as friends.
Pho: Social media hasn’t evolved yet to a point where providers can connect directly with patients.
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