Has the Social Media Bug Bitten the Medical Profession Too?

The use of social media for initiating customer conversations and building brand power has become commonplace in the corporate world. Incidentally, the same social bug has entered the world of physicians too. Exclusive social platforms like Sermo, Doximity and Figure 1 help medical professionals and students to share vital information, network and connect with patients too.

Table of Contents

1. The role of social media in medicine

2. Can social media interfere with professional ethics?

The role of social media in medicine

The field of medicine is continually evolving, embracing the benefits of digital technologies and social media has certainly been one among them. 

In general, physicians are expected to stay updated with all medical advancements right from the time they start out with their MCAT preparation books all the way up to successful completion of fellowship and throughout their career. With social media playing a dominant role in every segment, physicians can look forward to lifelong learning with absolute ease. Physicians are required to be up to date with new medical technologies and developments in the field and social media has proven to be a boon so far. 

While this is the most important advantage of social media in healthcare, there are other benefits too.

• Enhanced patient care by restoring support, integrity and trust through social platforms.
• Use of social media for a number of clinical functions like appointment setting, test reporting, prescription notification and information sharing with patients.
• Social media helps physicians to build communities of common interest and intent and facilitates progressive communication between the members.
• Some physicians make smart use of social media to market their practice and disseminate their research. 

Can social media interfere with professional ethics?

Of all the important things that are emphasized in the medical field, medical ethics is always an important area of discussion for both students who depend on MCAT study notes as well as practitioners with significant years of experience. 

While social media offers a plethora of benefits, care must be taken to ensure that the use of the platform does not disrupt the ethics of the profession. 

Here are some measures that helps physicians to use social media in the safest way.

• Physicians must never share personal information about their patients in a social forum. However, anonymous discussion about a patient's condition or treatment solely for the purpose of educating others is considered ethical. 
• Information about health practices must be posted only after exercising good judgement. This specially applies to students practising during their pre-med years. 
• Social media can be used to offer relevant information to patients but without turning it into a channel of medical practice. 

In short, social media is indeed an interesting tool that can rev up the professional life of a physician. But caution must be taken before expressing critical ideas and suggestions because the social media platform can hold a permanent record of all the information shared through it.