Skip to content
Research Article Open access CC BY 4.0

Medicine and Social Media – Ethical Challenges of the 21st Century

Ana Coelho, Viviana Macho, Cristina Areias, Paula Macedo

Current Journal of Applied Science and Technology · pp. 403–408 · Published 23 Oct 2014

10.9734/BJAST/2015/12750

Abstract

Introduction: With the huge growth of social networks, their use is increasing in hospitals and clinics and by physicians. However, health professionals are not always aware of the risks inherent to the use of these tools. The aim of this study is to analyse the problems associated with the use of social media in doctor-patient communication, as well as some rules that may help overcoming the potential risks of this situation. Methodology: Searches were conducted on Google Scholar, Google and Medline and limited to articles published in English, between 2004 and 2014. Twenty-three articles were selected out of 52. Boudreaux’s social media governance website was also used to identify institutional policies on social media. The articles were analysed through thematic coding using template analysis. Discussion and Conclusion: The control of the published information, the regular review of the privacy settings and the limiting access to personal information is of great interest not only for the physician but also for the profession he/she represents. To ensure that health professionals are aware not only of the advantages of using social media but also of the disadvantages of the global communication they allow it is required to follow specific rules.

Communication ethics social media social network web 2.0

References (23)

  1. 1 Patients’ and health professionals’ use of social media in health care: Motives, barriers and expectations [DOI]
  2. 2 Online Posting of Unprofessional Content by Medical Students [DOI]
  3. 3 Online Medical Professionalism: Patient and Public Relationships: Policy Statement From the American College of Physicians and the Federation of State Medical Boards [DOI]
  4. 4 The Intersection of Online Social Networking with Medical Professionalism [DOI]
  5. 5 Dangers and Opportunities for Social Media in Medicine [DOI]
  6. 6 Online Professionalism and the Mirror of Social Media [DOI]
  7. 7 The Patient–Doctor Relationship and Online Social Networks: Results of a National Survey [DOI]
  8. 8 Content of Weblogs Written by Health Professionals [DOI]
  9. 9 Privacy, professionalism and Facebook: a dilemma for young doctors [DOI]
  10. 10 Physicians on Twitter [DOI]
  11. 11 The Impact of Social Media on Medical Professionalism: A Systematic Qualitative Review of Challenges and Opportunities [DOI]
  12. 12 Medical professionalism in the age of online social networking [DOI]
  13. 13 Social media policies at US medical schools [DOI]
  14. 14 Report of the AMA Council on Ethical and Judicial Affairs: Professionalism in the Use of Social Media [DOI]
  15. 15 Facebook and the professional behaviours of undergraduate medical students [DOI]
  16. 16 A Survey of US Dental Practices’ use of Social Media [DOI]
  17. 17 Guidelines for Maintaining a Professional Compass in the Era of Social Networking [DOI]
  18. 18 Attitudes and Practices of Surgery Residency Program Directors Toward the Use of Social Networking Profiles to Select Residency Candidates: A Nationwide Survey Analysis [DOI]
  19. 19 Virtual colleagues, virtually colleagues—physicians’ use of Twitter: a population-based observational study [DOI]
  20. 20 Social media: the way forward or a waste of time for physicians? [DOI]
  21. 21 When to 'friend' a patient: social media tips for health care professionals.
  22. 22 A social media self-evaluation checklist for medical practitioners [DOI]
  23. 23 Professionalism in the Digital Age [DOI]

Cited by 2

Selective Integration

Wegene Demeke · Advances in Educational Technologies and Instructional Design · 2024

Showing 1 of 2 known citations — external sources report more than can currently be individually listed.

Related research

Article metrics

Real usage data collected on this platform.

104

Page views

0

PDF downloads

51

Outbound clicks

2

Citations

Views over time

Views by country

Approximate, from request IP at view time — not citizenship or institution. Countries with fewer than 5 views are grouped as "Other".

Traffic sources

Referring site, by host.

Views and downloads exclude known bots/crawlers. Citations combines this platform's own DOI-resolved index with each external source's own reported total — see Cited by above for individually listed citing works. Last refreshed 0 seconds ago.