John E. Moore, MD, FAAP
Assistant Professor of
Pediatrics, Virginia Tech-Carilion School of Medicine
Physicians, and especially young physicians, are becoming
increasingly more active on social media. More
than ninety percent of physicians younger than 30 have a social media presence.
Twitter, Facebook, and Pinterest have become a part of modern medicine for
residents, med students, and junior partners.
For them, a life and career without Facebook is inconceivable.
The rest of us are slowly catching up as well. According to
recent surveys, almost half of the physicians in my demographic group (41-50)
use social media. We are slowly embracing Facebook in our personal as well as
professional lives. I am happy to see more and more pediatricians show up on my
Twitter feed. Slowly and painfully,
physicians are entering the new digital world, and I think we are better off for
it.
We still have a lot of work to do, though, to make this
digital world as painless for all physicians as possible. Specifically, we media-savvy,
wired-in pediatricians need to provide real leadership in the area of digital
media. In countless surveys, new residents and med students say they want more
guidance from their mentors about social media. They want recommendations on navigating
social networks that go beyond, “Don’t friend your patients.”
As administrators, thought leaders and program directors, we
need to do more to educate our learners. In a survey from 2010, Terry Kind et
al. found that only 10 percent of medical schools even have social media
policies in place for their students. Of those that address social networks, many
only offered statements about what was forbidden, discouraged, or frowned upon.
Sadly, only 7 out of 132 medical schools encouraged thoughtful and responsible
social media use. It’s 2012; we need to do better.
Specifically, we need to provide guidance in the proper use
of social media. While our learners honestly understand the technology better
than we do, we “older” physicians have a much better understanding of risk
management and medical ethics. We need to instruct our learners about why they
should be extremely cautious in “friending” their patients. We need to show
them why they need to think about the photos they post and exactly how they
word their status updates. We need to demonstrate to them why they should never
talk about their patients online.
We also need to highlight the positive features of social
media as well. We need to emphasize the patient education that we can provide
over Facebook. We need to express how physicians need to take part in the
medical discussions that occur on Twitter every day. We can explain the value
of a timely blog post. We can show the
power of social media in advocating for our patients and our profession.
Over the last two years, we have made huge strides. In 2009,
very few physicians were active in social media and ever fewer saw the value in
it. Now, most doctors will agree that social networks have a role in modern
life and in modern medicine even if they are not actively engaged themselves. We
have done a good job convincing physicians to join the social media age; now we
need to make sure we are all doing it correctly.
Editor's Note
AAP & COCM RELEASES NEW MEMBER GUIDE TO
SOCIAL MEDIA:
The AAP Council on
Communications and Media, the Council on Clinical Information Technology and
the Department of Communications have teamed up to create a new resource: the AAP
Member Guide to Social Media.
This interactive, web-based
document offers a look at the ways pediatricians can engage in social media,
whether that means following the AAP “feeds” that interest them, sharing
Facebook and Twitter posts, or blogging as individual pediatricians.
The guide includes links to
AAP platforms, including the main news feeds on Facebook and Twitter; the Healthychildren.org
feeds offering parenting content; and numerous feeds serving readers of
publications such as AAP News, Pediatrics and the AAP Red
Book. Tips and resources are provided to help pediatricians contribute to the
burgeoning but tricky world of online social conversation, including advice on
how to comply with the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act; the
Healthcare Blogger Code of Ethics; and tips on how to vet blogs and comments
with their practice or institution.
The guide offers links to
exemplary social media sites of AAP members and includes a list of popular
parenting blogs that AAP members can explore and join the conversation.
For more information about AAP social media or
the guide, contact Gina Steiner, in the AAP Department of Communications, at
800-433-9016, ext. 7945, or gsteiner@aap.org.
