The omnipresent social network, of which we are all a part, makes isolating work from play close to impossible. How do you separate your personal life from your professional life when it takes a mere Google search to find you on Facebook, Twitter, Google Plus (although let's be honest, no one reads that one), Tumblr etc.? This problem is becoming increasingly significant for those working in the medical field. Doctors, nurses and other health workers could violate the strict privacy rules outlined in the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) by their use of social media without even knowing it.
Issue #1 Patient Privacy
The "mutual friends" feature on Facebook reveals a profound truth: everybody knows somebody who knows somebody. Although an existentially pleasant thought, this inter-connectedness of mankind can pose a serious problem for people in the medical field who might want to talk online about their days. Last April, Dr. Alexandra Thran of Rhode Island made the mistake of posting a status update about the injuries of one of her patients. Although no names were used, some people online were able to identify the patient and consequently revealed the patient's private medical information. The hospital that was employing Dr. Thran quickly terminated her hospital privileges.
Issue #2 Patients as Facebook Friends?
Although not a violation of any written rule or regulation, the idea of doctors and patients "friending" each other is a serious concern. Once friended, the doctor's religious affiliation, relationship status, political views, acquaintances, sense of humor etc. will become common knowledge to his or her patients. This could result in patients losing confidence or trust in their doctor based on otherwise unknowable information. The same holds true for patients. For example, people may worry that if a doctor has access to the religious and political views of a patient it may somehow affect his or her treatment of the patient.
Balancing the rights of health workers to freely engage in social media, while at the same time protecting the privacy of patients, is a difficult challenge. Is it okay to ban health workers from ever discussing their day online? Where does one draw the line? How much information is too much information? These issues will take time to address and eventually, if they haven't already done so, hospitals will develop protocol to deal with Facebook, Twitter and the like. For now everyone must, "friend" and tweet with caution and common sense.
Some of the same concerns are facing teachers. It makes the fact that Facebook can be so blasé about security even scarier with the fact that people's jobs are on the line.
ReplyDeleteAnother aspect of social media that doctors are running into is the concept of reviews. I saw an article the other day outlining the concerns doctors have about online reviews, which can obviously affect reputation, because bad reviews can be based as much on service as skill.
Wait times have very little to do with a doctor's skill, but can cause a negative review that people take seriously. I think that I would leave crowd sourcing reviews to the restaurant community (where service is part of quality) and keep doctor reviews to people who know what they are talking about.
This was an interesting post. I think that most people do not even consider the medical implications that are evolving because of Facebook, Twitter, etc. I know one doctor family friend who is normally bald but wears a funny wig in his profile picture on Facebook. Is this enough to get him in trouble? Where do we draw the line with this kind of thing and doctors? It is definitely new territory that the medical field will have to constantly adjust to in the future.
ReplyDeleteThat is a bummer about the Dr. Thran getting fired just for posting a slight bit of information about an ambiguous patient. I do not think that was right of the hospital to abruptly fire the doctor like that, especially since she had been working her whole life to be a doctor but only took about 30 seconds to post a comment that lead to her ultimate job termination. Hospitals really need to respect their doctors and trust that they will not say anything violating or detrimental on the internet. Most doctors are respectable and highly intelligent and should be allowed the privilege of having a Facebook without having to worry what stake it has in their job security.
I talk about religious implications of the internet in my blog like you mentioned in this post. You should check it out, it is really an interesting issue that is going on today.
The medical issue is interesting--I'd want my doctor to have a social outlet, but I don't want to know his social business (though I run into him at concerts all the time. Weird.)
ReplyDeleteBut the teacher thing is interesting--at the university, of course, it's not a big issue. Unless I were doing something really unethical or illegal, I doubt UC cares much what's on my FB page. But for public school teachers--again, I want them to have that social outlet, but they need to use it very carefully. Parents are nuts. :)