Study highlights challenge of patient confidentiality in medical blogospheres

The growing popularity of blogging by medical professionals offers great opportunities but also poses the risk that patient confidentiality will be infringed, according to a new study published in the current Journal of General Internal Medicine.

A team from the University of Pennsylvania examined content from 271 medical blogs written during 2006. They concluded that “blogs are a growing part of the public face of the health professions. They offer physicians and nurses the opportunity to share their narratives. They also risk revealing confidential information or, in their tone or content, risk reflecting poorly on …