There has been a significant increase in the use of social media
platforms in medicine and healthcare over the past number of
years. In a recent survey conducted by the Medical Protection
Society (MPS) 1, 36% of respondents confirmed that they
use Facebook on a daily basis and 21% said that they use
Twitter. There are also a growing number of internet
forums and blogs aimed at medical professionals in which medical
issues are dealt with and discussed amongst peers.
However, the increased use of social media by doctors also raises
a new set of concerns around important issues such as patient
confidentiality, the blurring of personal and professional
relationships and the importance of maintaining professionalism
online at all times.
Last year, the General Medical Council
("GMC") in the UK consulted with its
members with a view to developing new guidelines on the use of
social media by doctors. The draft guidelines include
guidance on a number of issues including, for example, what to do
if a patient contacts a doctor through a private profile, and the
importance of not using social media platforms to discuss
individual patients or their care. These new guidelines are
part of a wider review of the GMC's Good Medical Practice, its
core guidance document for doctors. According to the GMC,
"the standards expected of doctors do not change because
they are communicating through social media rather than face to
face, phone or email". It is therefore imperative
that medical practitioners remain cognisant of the fact that the
same standards of professionalism and confidentiality apply
regardless of the medium of communication involved.
These new guidelines, entitled Doctors' use of social
media, are expected to be published on the GMC's website
as part of the new edition of Good Medical Practice on 25 March
2013. The new guidance will then come into effect on 22 April
2013.
It is noteworthy that both the Royal College of General
Practitioners in the UK and the British Medical Association have
issued their own guidance codes relating to the use of social media
by doctors.
The Irish Medical Council has not yet published specific
guidelines for doctors relating to the use of social media.
The Council has stated that the guidelines within its Guide to
Professional Conduct and Ethics for Registered Medical
Practitioners are applicable across the board, which includes
the use of social media by doctors. In the Council's
Guidelines for Medical Schools on Ethical Standards and
Behaviour appropriate for Medical Students, under the
confidentiality heading, there is reference to medical students
understanding that they should never discuss patients with other
students or professionals, which includes discussion via social
networking sites, "e.g. Facebook, Twitter, My Space, Bebo,
chat rooms, texts, emails etc."
Taking into account the prevalence of social media today, it
remains to be seen whether the Irish Medical Council will follow
the GMC's lead in providing further guidance in this
area.
Footnotes
1.Survey was of 1,250 UK-based MPS members
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