Doctors on Social Media

[MrsK]

http://www.slate.com/articles/techno..._patients.html

Interesting article about medical persons use of social media. Some of it is very obvious -- like don't post pictures of ER patients in compromising circumstances. Other things -- like unintentionally identifying patients when seeking advise in on-line forums or swapping war stories -- may be more subtle and may even touch on some discussions that are had here or on FB among medical spouses.

[SuzySunshine]

I think docs are going to talk shop in a social setting just like everywhere else. Talking about it is one thing, documenting it whether that be online forums or pictures on social media is HIPAA violation no ifs ands or buts in my opinion. At DH's training institution there were no second chances, you were done! Didn't matter if you were a nurse, resident, doc, student. This and patients being able to find him is reason #1 DH doesn't have any social media accounts and I have to say that other then a friends' husband DH saw as a patient recently he never gives me enough information to identify a patient. (And that friend put it on fb that DH was his doc, not me - so the burden was off of us.)

ETA: I think a lot this is common sense but I think social media has become such 2nd hand to some people they don't think about the ramifications.

[Pollyanna]

Yep, dh does not do social media. Professionally for obvious reasons and personally because as he says, "it would annoy the crap out of me"

[Deebs]

When some of the places included were named, it didn't surprise me, as I think different hospitals have vastly different cultures as to what may be tolerated. DH is not on social media for personal use, but does use Twitter and Facebook professionally. He is so careful about what he puts "out there."


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[GrayMatterWife]

DH does not do social media. Primarily because he is not a 15-year-old girl. **snark!** (I know, I know, there are professional uses.) But he would NEVER ever post a pic of a patient, anyway. That is outrageous.

He occasionally takes pics on his iPhone in the OR for professional purposes, but he never shares them outside a professional need. And he never photographs the patient's face...and certainly no private body part. However, his pictures are usually extremely graphic (not sexually, obviously), although not gratuitous. They are shots of the open brain or of a particular type of head positioning. (If you are the least bit queasy...you don't want to see the pics!).

He takes the privacy of the pics very seriously. He once misplaced his phone before he'd deleted some shots, and I honestly thought HE was going to have a stroke. I tried to reason with him: there were no facial pics, the thief would have to break his code, etc. But he was really upset. He found his phone. thank goodness. He showed me the shot he was concerned upon. To the layperson, it was barely recognizable as human flesh. Seriously. But he thought it was a huge violation of trust that he misplaced the phone with that photo.

[Vanquisher]

DH uses an orthomind to talk to other ortho surgeons and get advice on clinical questions. Users are all docs, and it is verified that you are an ortho surgeon. Still, all identifying info is removed off of images - primarily x-rays. No names are given.

For example: A 36-year-old female presents with a 3-month history of shoulder pain with an unknown etiology. She has taken anti Inflammatories and had a trigger point steroid injection with little relief. She is tender to palpation along the trapezius insertion. Her x-rays are unremarkable. What would the next best course of action be?

He wouldn't ask this. I would. I want to know why my damned shoulder still hurts. . He would ask something much more complicated though.

On Facebook, he would never post something like that.

I know lots of patient-protected info, but I work there.

[scrub-jay]

I wish I had the full article, I read it when it first came out. It discusses the benefit of physicians using social media in a professional manner. Basically creating an online presence that is what you want it to be so when patients/employers/whoever look you up, they find what you have designed. Perhaps you use it to promote vaccinating, healthy choices, flu stats, or new research. They do not delve into using it as a physician-physician communication though. Interesting perspective though. IIRC however, there were several of DH's classmates with less-than-appropriate FB pages.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21502653

[Deebs]

DH's Twitter feed is the nerdiest thing you can imagine. We have a friend, not in medicine, who recently told me he follows H but doesn't understand anything on his feed! It's a bunch of articles, scenarios, EMS issues, etc. He has made some awesome international contacts through Twitter and is able to keep up professionally with those he would otherwise only see at national meetings. Delving into the administrative side of medicine (even only part time) has required a great deal of online presence, in addition to all the things H is doing with the media.

[OrionGrad]

I haven't read it yet, but this book by KevinMD that came out a few years ago is supposed to be a useful guide to helping physicians navigate social media. I plan on buying it when DH transitions into attendinghood.

http://www.amazon.com/Establishing-M...9549117&sr=1-1

[SoonerTexan]

My OB posts regularly on his practice's Facebook page. It's kinda cool. He does post pics of new babies, with the parents written permission beforehand and no last names.

[moonlight]

I'm FB friends with several of DH's med school classmates. I'm always shocked at the personal info (them not about work) they post. I guess they can be human too. I honestly enjoy reading all of their rants on FB. lol!