Now Dr. Lockshin’s wife helps him manage the site and forwards messages to him. If he does respond, he uses e-mail and not Facebook.
Social media can pose some professional risks if physicians aren’t cautious, according to a study published in the Journal of General Internal Medicine.2 The researchers, who reviewed the Facebook status of 812 medical students or residents, found that nearly half—44.5%—had opened an account. Of those who did, 37.5% opted to keep their pages private. On the publicly accessible sites, researchers saw problematic photos or postings, including excessive drinking and potentially inflammatory sexist comments.
In their social media policy, the American Medical Association provides some recommendations for managing your online presence. Among their suggestions:
- Separate personal and professional content online;
- Monitor one’s own online “reputation” by checking for inaccurate or inappropriate information posted by others; and
- Recognize that online communication can potentially harm relationships with patients or colleagues.
Social media resources
For social media guidance, physicians have numerous options, including:
American Medical Association: The professional group recently published a succinct social media policy.
www.ama-assn.org/ama/pub/meeting/professionalism-social-media.shtml
Facebook: Reluctant to join a community that numbers 500 million users and counting?3 Keep in mind that personal pages be kept private, and friends and family can be divided into groups to limit their access to your information.
www.facebook.com
Mayo Clinic Center for Social Media: Launched in 2010, this site will provide resources related to social media, as well as a related network.
http://socialmedia.mayoclinic.org
Twitter: Brevity is the key—messages are limited to 140 characters—but establishing a Twitter account allows physicians to follow as many or as few colleagues and groups as they want, along with posting their own messages. Accounts can be public or private.
www.twitter.com
Raising the Bar?
But it is feasible for physicians to develop a Facebook presence that interacts with patients, while still keeping the connection at arm’s length, says Prashanth Sunkureddi, MD, clinical assistant professor at the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston and a rheumatologist in private practice in Houston. His professional Facebook page, which he launched within the last two years, discusses rheumatology information and fields patient questions.
“It’s partially a marketing tool,” he says. “It’s partially a tool to advertise things we do in the office, events. It’s also a social tool, if you will. It’s a way to interact with people from around the world with whom I may not otherwise have the opportunity to interact with.”
