In 1846, a small group of physicians formed the Ohio State Medical Society (later named the Ohio State Medical Association) in an effort to “foster legislation and activities which would safeguard the interests of the public against knavery and ignorance and elevate the standards of the medical profession.”
Not too many years before this time, Samuel B. Morse revolutionized communication with the invention of the telegraph system. It is more than safe to say that in the last 150+ years, the practice of medicine and the way in which we communicate have changed dramatically.
As the state’s largest and oldest physician organization, the OSMA is now, much like many other health care organizations, on Facebook and Twitter (Unfortunately, our original founding message listed above exceeds the 140 character limit for tweets…it’s 165 without punctuations, to be exact).
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These social media outlets and others like them reach audiences in a different way and many times are more effective than traditional communication methods. That’s one of the reasons that I am writing this first post on the OSMA’s new Ohio Medicine Blog.
Despite new communication power, social media use can pose many potential legal and ethical concerns for medical professionals. As physicians, we have an expectation of privacy when we practice medicine. This is, of course, by design and by law. When I talk to a patient in an exam room, what we exchange and what I put into a confidential medical record is between myself and that patient. Breaches of this privacy are and should be illegal.
It is important for physicians to think about not only how different online communication is from more traditional methods of communication but also to realize that you can’t assume anything online is private. As we looked into the resources available to help physicians navigate through the potential pitfalls of using social media, we didn’t find much.
OSMA Legal Services Group stepped in to fill that void and the OSMA created a social media toolkit, entitled “Social Networking and the Medical Practice: Guidelines for Physicians, Office Staff and Patients.”
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While it’s not a comprehensive guide nor a substitute for legal advice, this toolkit provides real world examples of social media uses for physicians, like thinking twice about “friending” a patient and remembering to keep your personal social media pages personal.
To that end, I would also caution medical students, residents and younger physicians to remember that even your personal page is still a reflection of your professional image. Be mindful of the pictures that you post online and remember that nothing is really ever private.
Since many physicians are also small business owners, the OSMA toolkit also provides social media best practices and sample workplace policies. We hope physicians will find this toolkit useful as they examine social media use in their personal and professional lives.
Because let’s face it – we aren’t going back to the telegraph and that is a good thing!
Richard R. Ellison, MD
President of the Ohio State Medical Association (OSMA)
