Avoiding social networking pitfalls as a junior doctor
Medical students need to be careful about what they do and say on line. The boundaries between social media sites like Facebook and Twitter can bring both doctors and students closer to their patients. What’s said online can often be trailed and followed. One contributor to Medical Educator recalls the following at the Universty of Birmingham:
“A prank went wrong when a couple of our friends decided to ask some of the medical student freshers to reveal some ‘personal’ details about themselves by standing up. The subsequent photos, not widely circulated nearly led to the pair being kicked out of medical school. The whole business was a bit of a disaster for the medical students taking the pictures. The dean was not impressed. In the current climate of social networking it could have potentially been a lot worse!”
Sara Williams form the Medical Protection Society, a sponsor of Medical Educator has written some wise words on the topic. The whole article is available here but here’s some practical advice:
“Keep it confidential – make sure you set strict security settings on your social network sites, so only people you know can access your details.
Professional vs personal – You are expected to behave professionally and not bring the profession into disrepute, whether that be on or offline. When social networking you have to bear in mind all your professional responsibilities, and write as if you’re going to be identified. Even inappropriate pictures on Facebook could be subject to criticism.
Tweeting while you work – Tweeting or Facebooking your friends with amusing stories about work may seem innocent at the time. But such anecdotes will often involve unusual symptoms or other sensitive information. It is unsurprising that a patient learning that their experience was being shared online could suffer distress.”
Consider what you are saying and the potential impact of it
So the advice from those ‘in the know’ is don’t be tempted to blog about that ‘interesting rash’ you just saw in the infectious disease clinic.
“The crucial thing to remember when interacting with medical blogs and social networking sites, or when taking part in forum discussions, is that anonymity is a myth,” says MPS Medicolegal Adviser Dr Chris Godeseth. “You should write everything as if you are signing it with your name.”
I can see a time where medical students will be barred form using Facebook, Twitter and the like as part of guidelines from an individual medical school. Like how many medical students have had advice from their own uni’s or formal guidance on this?
Has your university issued you with guidelines about twitter?
Not sure if anyone saw the breach on Facebook about personal chat being visible. Can you imagine the potential consequences? More guidelines like this needed!!!
Rubbish, never be able to block Face book for students its a human right up there with the vote. People need to just get real about being sensible on the job. My third year politics mate wants a job in PR, and his favourite bit of his CV is his friends list on twitter, which is about 5000. He doesn’t read any of his posts, and most of what he posts himself is garbage.
Then again, most of what I post is garbage.