The recent surge in use of social media has not really changed the private behaviour of doctors - it has just made it more visible (1). There should be little difficulty in judging whether much questionable online behaviour is inappropriate. It always has been - the only difference is that now everyone can see it. It is fair to say that nobody should post anything online that they would not mind having up in lights with their name attached, especially potentially identifiable patient information. The core question for doctors is how we see professionalism in our lives.


There is evidence that much of doctors’ perception of what is professional behaviour comes from the hidden curriculum, i.e. by emulating colleagues (2). But professionalism should be actively nurtured by trainers and educators, rather than being addressed only when problems arise. Unfortunately many students dislike learning about professionalism, but like spending time on Facebook. We used this apparent obstacle as a novel educational tool, by advancing social media as a lens through which students examine their concepts of professionalism. Our one-hour e-learning module (freely available at http://www.healthinfomatters.com/elearning/onlineprofessionalism/4c1.html) has been enthusiastically welcomed.

References:
1. MacDonald J, Sohn S, Ellis P. Privacy, professionalism and Facebook: a dilemma for young doctors. Med Educ 2010;44 (8):805–13.
2. Gaiser RR. The teaching of professionalism during residency: why it is failing and a suggestion to improve its success. Anesth Analg 2009;108(3):948–54.

Competing interests: None declared