A guide to online professionalism for medical
practitioners and medical students
A joint initiative of the Australian Medical Association Council of Doctors-in-Training, the New Zealand Medical Association
Doctors-in-Training Council, the New Zealand Medical Students’ Association and the Australian Medical Students’ Association
The professional standards of doctors and medical students – which are based
on the expectations of the community and medical peers – form the cornerstone
of quality patient care. They are taught and assessed from the first year of
medical school, and are continually re-emphasised throughout medical training and
practice. The Australian and New Zealand Medical Councils have widely accepted
guidelines on good medical practice,
1 2
and the Australian and New Zealand
Medical Associations (AMA and NZMA) and the Australian Medical Students’
Association (AMSA) have developed codes of ethics for their members.
3 4 5
The world to which these professional standards apply is expanding rapidly.
Society has enthusiastically embraced user-generated content such as blogging,
personal websites, and online social networking.
6
Research shows that use of
social media by the medical profession is common and growing.
7 8
In one 2010
study, 220 out of 338 (65 per cent) medical students at the University of Otago,
New Zealand, had a Facebook account.
9
Although doctors and medical students are increasingly participating in online
social media, evidence is emerging from studies, legal cases, and media
reports that the use of these media can pose risks for medical professionals.
Inappropriate online behaviour can potentially damage personal integrity, doctor-
patient and doctor-colleague relationships, and future employment opportunities.
Our perceptions and regulations regarding professional behaviour must evolve to
encompass these new forms of media.
The Australian Medical Association Council of Doctors-in-Training (AMACDT),
the New Zealand Medical Association Doctors-in-Training Council (NZMADITC),
the New Zealand Medical Students’ Association (NZMSA), and the Australian
Medical Students’ Association (AMSA) are committed to upholding the principles
of medical professionalism. As such, we have created some practical guidelines
to assist doctors and medical students to continue to enjoy the online world,
while maintaining professional standards.
Social Media and the
Medical ProfeSSion:
A guide to online professionalism for medical
practitioners and medical students
Social Media and the Medical ProfeSSion:
A guide to online professionalism for medical practitioners and medical students
2
Be careful aBout what you
Say and how you Say it
Confidentiality:
Example 1:
You are working in a rural hospital and make a comment on a social
networking site about an adverse outcome for one of your patients. You are
careful not to name the patient or the hospital. However, you mentioned the
name of the hospital you are working at in a post last week.
A cousin of the patient searches the internet for the hospital’s name in order
to find its contact phone number. In the search results, the patient’s cousin is
presented with your posting mentioning the hospital. The cousin then sees the
subsequent posting regarding the adverse outcome involving the patient.
Doctors have an ethical and legal responsibility to maintain their patients’
confidentiality. This still applies when using any form of online tool, regardless of
whether the communication is with other doctors, a specific group of people (e.g.
‘friends’ on social networking sites), or the public (e.g. a blog). The anonymity
potentially afforded online is no excuse for unprofessional behaviour.
Before putting patient information online, think about why you are doing it. You
should inform the patient and gain their express consent, and acknowledge that
consent has been obtained in any online posts. If you feel it is appropriate to
discuss a patient case – for example, to further that patient’s care or the care
of future patients who present with a similar condition – care must be taken to
ensure that the patient is properly de-identified. Using a pseudonym is not always
enough; you might have to change case information or delay the discussion. The
accessibility and indexability of online information means that although a single
posting on a social networking website may be sufficiently de-identified in its own
right, this may be compromised by other postings on the same website, which are
just a mouse click away.
In maintaining confidentiality, you must ensure that any patient or situation cannot
be identified by the sum of information available online.
Breaching confidentiality can result in complaints to your medical registration
authority (with potential disciplinary action, including loss of registration),
involvement of the Privacy Commissioner, or even legal action (including civil claims
for damages). In Australia, Medical Boards have already investigated doctors for
patient-identifying information posted on social networking sites.
10 11
Moreover,
breaching confidentiality erodes the public’s trust in the medical profession,
impairing our ability to treat patients effectively.
Social Media and the Medical ProfeSSion:
A guide to online professionalism for medical practitioners and medical students
3
Defamation:
Example 2:
Dear Emergency Registrar,
Thanks a million for misdiagnosing my patient’s perforated bowel as
constipation and treating aggressively with laxatives. I’m sure she
appreciated the subsequent cardiac arrest and multiorgan failure. Don’t
worry, she just needs a new set of kidneys and a liver and she’ll be right.
And with that kind of performance, I’m sure you can help her acquire them.
Kind regards,
Lowly intern
(based on an actual posting on a social networking site)
Another potential risk of inappropriate online comments is defamation.
Defamatory statements:
• Arepublishedtoathirdpersonorgroupofpeople;
• Identify(orareabout)apatient/colleague/person(‘subject’);and
• Damagethereputationofthesubject.
Professional codes of conduct specify that doctors should not engage in
behaviours that can harm the reputation of colleagues or the profession.
12
Be mindful about comments made about colleagues (medical or otherwise),
employers, and even health departments. Defamation cases are civil claims, in
which substantial monetary compensation can be awarded.
4
Social Media and the Medical ProfeSSion:
A guide to online professionalism for medical practitioners and medical students
KeeP your friendS cloSe and
otherS … not So cloSe
Doctor-patient boundaries:
Example 3:
You get a friend request on a social networking site from someone whose
name sounds very familiar, but they have a photo of a dog as their profile
picture. You accept the request. After looking through their profile page,
you realise that it is actually one of your previous patients. The patient
sends you a message to let you know that they cannot make their next
clinic appointment, but would like to know their histology results from a
test ordered while the patient was in hospital. The patient also throws in a
cheeky comment about some photos they saw of you wearing swimmers at
the beach.
A power imbalance exists between doctors and patients, and the maintenance
of clear professional boundaries protects patients from exploitation.
13
Doctors
who allow patients to access their entire ‘profile’ (or similar) introduce them to
details about their personal lives well beyond what would normally occur as part
of the usual doctor-patient relationship, which may be a violation of professional
boundaries. In general, it is wise to avoid online relationships with current or
former patients. Boundary violations can occur very easily online, and serious
indiscretions may result in disciplinary action against the doctor.
If a patient does request you as a friend on a social networking site, a
polite message informing them that it is your policy not to establish online
friendships with patients is appropriate. Another mechanism used by some
doctors, who often work privately, is to create an online profile that is
maintained as their professional page only, or to join a professional social
networking site.
14
Patients can become friends or fans of this professional
page, which only provides information relevant to the professional practice of
that doctor. It is also possible to pay companies to manage social networking
profiles.
5
Social Media and the Medical ProfeSSion:
A guide to online professionalism for medical practitioners and medical students
Other boundaries:
Example 4:
In September 2008, a Junior Medical Officer in the UK was suspended
from work for six weeks after describing a senior colleague as a ‘f***ing
s***’ on an online social networking forum. Another colleague, who
happened to be friends with the JMO and the senior colleague, saw
the posting and made a complaint about the comments to the JMO’s
employer. The complainant said she felt compelled to complain after
seeing the ‘scatological’ language used in the posting. The JMO apologised
for the comments and organised for their removal from the website.
15
Other professional relationships may also become problematic on social
networking sites. Think very carefully before allowing others (including
employers, other doctors, nurses, allied health professionals, clerks, ancillary
staff, students, or tutors) to access personal information.
Colleagues’ online conduct:
Inevitably, many people choose to interact with colleagues via social media.
While you need to be aware of what they see you doing, you may also notice
colleagues posting information online or behaving inappropriately. Looking after
colleagues is an integral element of professional conduct, so if you feel that a
friend or workmate has posted information online that could be damaging for
them, consider letting them know in a discreet way (such as a personal email,
text message, or phone call).
6
Social Media and the Medical ProfeSSion:
A guide to online professionalism for medical practitioners and medical students
7
conSider the deStiny
of your data
Extent of access to your information:
Many people are unaware of just how easily accessible and durable their online
information is. Even if using the most stringent privacy settings, information
on social networking sites may still be widely available, including to various
companies and search engines. And deleting information is not sure-fire
protection – it is almost certainly still stored somewhere in cyberspace, and
theoretically permanently accessible. If there is something that you really do
not want some people to know about you, avoid putting it online at all. It is
much harder to prevent other people posting information about you online
(e.g. photos, videos). However, you can report inappropriate content to site
administrators and request that it be removed.
(Seewww.privacy.gov.au/faq/individuals#social_networkingor
www.netsafe.org.nz/formoreinformation).
Employee and college trainee background checks:
Recruiters are increasingly screening potential employees online. Employer
surveys have found that between one-fifth and two-thirds of employers conduct
internet searches, including of social networking sites, and that some have
turned down applicants as a result of their searches.
16 17
In another survey, 21
per cent of colleges and universities said they looked at the social networking
of prospective students, usually for those applying for scholarships and other
awards and programs.
18
Be conscious of your online image. While employers and colleges you are
applying to may find information about you online that could actually prove to
be advantageous (e.g. professional-looking photos, information on your
extracurricular activities such as sports or volunteer work), material that
portrays you in an unprofessional or controversial light can be detrimental.
Real life examples include an employer who turned down an applicant after
discovering that he had used Facebook to criticise previous employers and
disclosed company information,
19
a doctor who missed out on a job because
the doctor’s online activities revealed an interest in witchcraft,
20
and a female
psychiatrist who failed to gain employment after a recruiting agency found
explicit pictures on MySpace of her intoxicated.
21
Social Media and the Medical ProfeSSion:
A guide to online professionalism for medical practitioners and medical students
Other issues with employment:
Example 5:
Seven doctors and nurses were suspended from Swindon’s Great Western
Hospital, UK, after they posted photos of themselves on Facebook playing
the ‘lying down game’ on the hospital premises. The aim of the game
is to take photos of yourself lying inert in ridiculous places such as on
top of cars, bins, or tables. A hospital manager dobbed in the doctors
and nurses after he saw pictures of them on a Facebook site posing on
hospital trolleys and ward floors. Hospital management said the staff
faced disciplinary action because the hospital set ‘high standards for staff
behaviour at all times and therefore takes any such breaches extremely
seriously’.
22
Employers and colleges may access online material and activities about their
current medical staff or trainees, with potentially career-damaging outcomes.
An insurance company employee was fired when she was caught on Facebook
after calling in ‘sick’, having claimed she could not work in front of a bright
computer,
23
and a trainee was suspended for making insulting comments about a
senior medical colleague on an online forum.
24
When using social networking sites, think before making offensive comments or
jokes, sharing information about unprofessional activities (e.g. involving alcohol
or drugs), or joining or creating groups that might be considered derogatory
or prejudiced. Although online groups or webrings may seem innocuous, other
people will not always treat the group with the same humour.
8
Social Media and the Medical ProfeSSion:
A guide to online professionalism for medical practitioners and medical students
University regulations:
Medical students are not held to any lesser standards of professionalism than doctors.
They may face disciplinary action from their universities and, in Australia where all
medical students are registered with the Medical Board of Australia, from the medical
registration authority. In New Zealand, although the medical registration authorities
do not have jurisdiction over medical students, they do advise disclosure of any
infringements of the law or other misconduct as these may affect eventual medical
registration.
25
According to a 2009 US study, 60 per cent of responding deans of medical schools
reported that medical students had posted unprofessional content online, including
violations of patient confidentiality, use of profanity in reference to specific persons
or faculties, discriminatory language, depiction of intoxication, sexually suggestive
material, and pictures with illicit substance paraphernalia. In many cases, this led to
disciplinary action by the universities, including dismissals.
26
In other examples, a Twitter comment by an Australian medical student allegedly
intended as a joke between friends resulted in an international media storm for
referring to US President Barack Obama as a ‘monkey’.
27
A student from Ryerson
University in Canada was almost expelled for running a Facebook study group where
students exchanged thoughts on test questions,
28
while a YouTube video of a medical
parody caused a great amount of public upset and embarrassment for the students
involved and their American university.
29
Students are entitled to enjoy an active social life. But remember that online behaviour
passed off as ‘youthful exuberance’ at this early stage in your career will still be
available later on, and perhaps be seen in a less favourable light. You also need to
consider whether your online activities violate university regulations (check with your
university whether it has a policy relating to online behaviour), because this could form
the basis of disciplinary action.
9
Social Media and the Medical ProfeSSion:
A guide to online professionalism for medical practitioners and medical students
10
taKe control of
your Privacy
Facebook’s privacy settings:
Most social networking sites or blogs will have privacy settings enabling
you to control (to some extent) how accessible your material is. The
following information regarding Facebook, while specific to that particular
site, highlights many of the issues you need to be aware of:
• In2009,FacebookupdateditsPrivacyPolicyandSettings,and
automatically defaulted a large number of people back to far more
public settings. Facebook changes its privacy settings frequently, so
be alert for these sorts of changes in the future. Privacy settings can
be accessed by clicking ‘Account’ in the top right and selecting ‘Privacy
Settings.’ This section also allows you to see what your profile looks like
to someone who is not a Facebook friend;
• Yourname,prolephoto,friendslist,gender,geographiclocation,
and pages and networks to which you belong are considered ‘publicly
available’ and do not have privacy settings;
• Evenafteryouremovecontentfromyourprole,copiesofthat
information may remain viewable elsewhere if it has been shared with
others;
• Thedefaultsettingforwhocanaccessmanytypesofinformation
on Facebook is ‘Everyone’. The ‘Everyone’ setting makes information
publicly available to any Facebook user and to search engines for
indexing purposes;
• AddinganapplicationtoyourFacebookprolesharesallyourprole
information with that application and its parent company;
• ThePrivacyPolicyallowsfor‘SocialAdvertisementServing’:thismeans
that a Facebook activity you undertake, such as becoming a fan of a
page, may be served to one of your Facebook friends, coupled with an
advertisement for that page; and
• ItisstipulatedthatFacebook‘cannotensurethatinformationyoushare
on Facebook will not become publicly available’.
If you want to know more about how secure your information will be
when using online forums, make sure you read their privacy policies. If
you still have questions or concerns, you can contact the site operator.
Additionally, Australia and New Zealand have Privacy Commissioners with
expertise in this area (see www.privacy.gov.au or www.privacy.org.nz).
Social Media and the Medical ProfeSSion:
A guide to online professionalism for medical practitioners and medical students
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are you Maintaining
ProfeSSional StandardS
online?
Online social media challenge: What is ‘public’ and ‘private’?
Even though medical students and doctors are entitled to a private personal life,
online social media have challenged the concepts of ‘public’ and ‘private’ and, in
turn, changed the way in which online aspects of private lives are accessible to
others.
30
Once information is online, it is almost impossible to remove and can
quickly spread beyond a person’s control. A moment of rashness now could
have unintended and irreversible consequences in the future – inappropriate
online activities can be detrimental to relationships with patients and colleagues,
training and employment prospects, and personal integrity. This is not to say that
medical professionals should avoid using social media, because their use can be
personally and professionally beneficial. But traditional expectations regarding
the conduct of the medical profession still apply in this non-traditional context;
medical students and doctors always have a duty to patients and the community
to maintain professional standards, including when using online social media.
Troubleshooting: Have you ever … ?
• Googledyourself?SearchforyourfullnameinGoogle,particularly‘Australian
Sites Only’ and ‘New Zealand Sites Only’. Do you feel comfortable with the
resultsthatareshown?
• Postedinformationaboutapatientorpersonfromyourworkplaceon
Facebook?Havealookthroughyouroldonlinepostsandblogs;
• AddedpatientsasfriendsonFacebookorMySpace?
• Addedpeoplefromyourworkplaceasfriends?
• Madeapubliccommentonlinethatcouldbeconsideredoffensive?
• Becomeamemberorfanofanygroupthatmightbeconsideredracist,sexist,
orotherwisederogatory?Browsethroughallthegroupsthatyouhavejoined
and consider whether these are an accurate reflection of the person you are,
and the values that you hold.
• Putupphotosorvideosofyourselfonlinethatyouwouldnotwantyour
patients,employersorpeoplefromyourworkplacetosee?
• CheckedyourprivacysettingsonFacebookorMySpace?
• Feltthatafriendhaspostedinformationonlinethatmayresultinnegative
consequencesforthem?Didyouletthemknow?
Social Media and the Medical ProfeSSion:
A guide to online professionalism for medical practitioners and medical students
12
acKnowledgeMent
This guide was developed by representatives from the AMA, NZMA, AMSA, and
NZMSA, including Dr Sarah Mansfield, Dr Andrew Perry, Dr Stewart Morrison,
Hugh Stephens, Sheng-Hui Wang, Dr Michael Bonning, Rob Olver and Dr Aaron
Withers.
Our aim was to develop a simple guide for medical students and doctors that
explores various risks posed by online social media. In order to achieve this, a
literature review was conducted, which included an exploration of:
• Existingguidestoprofessionalismbyrepresentativeorganisationsforthe
medical profession, registration authorities, and medical defense organisations;
• Medicalandnon-medicaljournalsinAustralasiaandabroad;
• Itemsfrommedia(egnewspaperarticles);
• Onlinediscussionforums;and
• Ourowninteractionswithsocialmedia.
Where possible, we have also drawn upon real life examples based on our own
experiences and those of our colleagues.
We are very grateful to the other members and secretariats of the participating
organisations who provided input. In particular, we acknowledge the generous
assistance of the AMA with design and administrative support.
Social Media and the Medical ProfeSSion:
A guide to online professionalism for medical practitioners and medical students
13
Social Media and the Medical ProfeSSion:
A guide to online professionalism for medical practitioners and medical students
referenceS
See the references below for additional information. New Zealanders may
also find the Medical Council of New Zealand’s June 2006 statement on use of
internet and email communication helpful:
http://www.mcnz.org.nz/portals/0/Guidance/Use%20of%20the%20internet%20
and%20electronic%20communication.pdf
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A guide to online professionalism for medical practitioners and medical students
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