Doctors’ concerns over social media use continue to rise
BMJ 2014; 349 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.g7769 (Published 18 December 2014) Cite this as: BMJ 2014;349:g7769
The number of doctors calling with concerns about social media has increased by 74% since 2013, the Medical and Dental Defence Union of Scotland (MDDUS) has said.
The organisation said that, although the rise could be partly due to an increase in its membership, it had received four times as many social media related calls in 2014 as in 2011.
Separately, the Medical Defence Union reported a similar rise last year and said that the number of doctors contacting it with concerns about Facebook, blogs, and other websites had risen by 40% from 2011 to 2012.1 And BMJ Careers reported in February 2014 that doctors’ use of the social networking websites Facebook and Twitter had led to 28 complaints to the General Medical Council since 2009.2
Commenting on the rise in calls about social media Naeem Nazem, an MDDUS medical adviser, said that doctors needed to keep their relationship with patients professional. “Social media offers a platform for doctors to network effectively and develop their own knowledge and expertise,” he said. “However, the rise of social media has created some serious ethical challenges for doctors and their relationship with patients. We have handled a number of cases where doctors have sought advice from us regarding social media issues, including patients posting critical or abusive comments.”
Nazem said that accepting a Facebook friend request from a patient or commenting on a post could blur the boundaries between professional and personal relationships. As a consequence, doctors may find that their ability to make objective judgements in a clinical situation is affected, he said.
“As a doctor, the reality is you are never off duty,” said Nazem. “When using Facebook or Twitter, doctors should ensure patient confidentiality and should avoid sharing any patient information, especially anything that could potentially be linked to an identifiable individual.
“Even with the proper privacy settings in place, anything posted online may end up being distributed further than intended.”