The Australian Medical Association (AMA) released a document that details the cautions doctors and medical trainees should take while using social media to protect patient confidentiality and medical careers.
Michael Bonning chair of the AMA Council of Doctors-in-Training (AMACDT) who helped develop guidelines said, “Doctors have recently faced disciplinary action for their online behaviour.” The NSW Medical Board had warned doctors over disclosing confidential medical information on social networking sites such as Twitter and Facebook this September. Dr. Bonning said, “Our guide provides real life examples of the repercussions, such as defamation, that doctors can encounter through the misuse of social media…Our aim is to help doctors and medical students enjoy the online world in their personal lives safely while maintaining professional standards ... (including) patient confidentiality and privacy, and protecting the doctor - patient relationship.” He said medical students as well as others can follow these guidelines.
The guidelines say that social media can cause unintended damage to a doctor’s “personal integrity, doctor-patient and doctor-colleague relationships, and future employment opportunities.” Doctors and students, it says should not mention adverse patient outcomes in their status updates or other posts online - even when being careful to not identify the patient or hospital. “However, you mentioned the name of the hospital you are working at in a post last week,” it says and so it gives out information.
The guidelines write about usefulness of social media in informing patients about clinic opening hours or other practise-specific information but warn against accepting patient friend requests on their personal profile.
Dr Bonning said it has become common for recruiters to check a job applicants’ online presence alongside their professional qualifications so doctors and students need to pay attention to what they do not want to reveal. He added once the information was “out there, it’s never coming back”. He said, “For many people, using social media is a part of their everyday lives… But if doctors aren’t careful, they can place themselves and their patients in awkward situations.”
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