Although blogs written by medical professionals are growing in popularity, authors of these blogs may unknowingly reveal confidential patient information, according to a new study published online in the Journal of General Internal Medicine. The study is the first to examine whether blogs written by medical professionals violate patient privacy or fail to meet professional standards for disclosure of conflicts of interest.
Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Clinical Scholar Dr. Tara Lagu and colleagues at the University of Pennsylvania examined content from 271 medical blogs and found that more than half (56.8 percent) contained enough information to reveal the author’s identity. The authors say that although overt violations of patient privacy are rare, “anonymous” medical bloggers who provide information about their location, subspecialty or other personal details inadvertently reveal their identity to patients, colleagues or other members of the public. In some cases, patients described in these blogs may be able to identify themselves. Three blogs had recognizable photographs of patients, with one including an extensive description of the patient and links to pictures.