Showing posts with label Social Media Physicians. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Social Media Physicians. Show all posts

Monday, May 12, 2025

Physicians - Make Or Break Careers On Social Media?


For doctors in the digital age, your social media fingerprint has the power to either advance or damage your career..

Whether you're using social media to post pictures of your vacation in the Cayman Islands or to reach out to colleagues regarding a challenging patient, the line between personal and professional, as well as what's appropriate, can sometimes become blurred.

Research has shown that many physicians using social media report minimal formal training in professional conduct online, as well as a lack of awareness regarding which guidelines to follow.

A number of recent studies have highlighted the level of unprofessional social media content posted by physicians.

These included profanity, references to (or appearing to be) intoxicated, and sexually suggestive photographs. They also included possible HIPAA violations, which have the potential to damage careers.

While this behavior has been observed across all career stages, including attending physicians, the levels were highest among residents and recently graduated physicians.



It's easy to get caught out when talking about patients online, as an article in The Hospitalist highlighted.

Even supposedly innocuous identifying features can "turn a seemingly harmless post on social media into a patient privacy violation."

"Any physician who uses social media has to be mindful and conscious about protecting private patient information even on personal accounts," said Toni Brayer, M.D., chief executive officer of Sutter Pacific Medical Foundation in San Francisco, CA.

But your online presence and interactions can also be powerful tools, said ophthalmology resident Steven M. Christiansen, M.D., an avid blogger and Twitter user based at the University of Iowa in Iowa City.

How can you turn social media to your advantage? And what guidelines can you follow to make the most of professional social media?



Using Social Media For Your Reputation

Matt Dull, M.D. - who is due to start his critical care fellowship at the Spectrum Health Hospital in Grand Rapids, MI - became interested in using social media professionally when he heard a keynote speaker at a national medical conference discuss the fact that patients were looking for providers on social media.

"He said that being engaged with your patients on social media will be of increasing importance in the years to come," Dr. Dull explained.

As a resident, he said, he doesn't need to engage patients outside the hospital. But, he added, "In the future, I will be looking for ways to reach patients and potential patients through social media."

Indeed, an increasing number of patients turn to doctor rating sites such as Rate MD, Yelp, and Vitals when choosing a physician.

"We know that [those sites] are increasingly important avenues for patients seeking more information about healthcare providers," said Dr. Brayer. "We've learned that 'stars' matter and we celebrate good reviews internally and respond to any patient complaints directly for our physicians."



As Dr. Christiansen noted, "We have worked too hard in our training to let a few poor ratings keep patients from coming to see us. Social media can help us create and establish an online presence we control."

One of the greatest benefits of social media for physicians is the ability to connect with colleagues to improve diagnostic and other medical skills.

"I only recently started using social media for professional purposes," said Dr. Dull. He started by joining the International Hernia Collaborative, a large Facebook group for surgeons to discuss complex hernia operations.

"From there, I found all of the other professional ways to leverage social media," he said. "I now regularly find interesting journal articles, medical blog posts, and discussions of new therapies through Twitter."

Indeed, a survey of 153 Dutch clinicians found that 76 percent of them used Twitter to extend their network of colleagues, while 71 percent used it to update their colleagues about their work.



Pathologists, for instance, use social media to share images with colleagues, students, patients, and even the general public, while professional medical organizations such as the American College for Chest Physicians use it to promote their specialty and provide education, which extends to patients.

"I use social media to promote health and wellness and as a way of letting people know what is happening in my organization and in the community," said Dr. Brayer. "As a physician I have a strong voice and see myself as an expert with useful information."

Twitter is also becoming a hugely effective tool for communicating content live from medical meetings.

Dr. Christensen and his colleagues published a study in Ophthalmology in August 2016, comparing Twitter activity during the American Academy of Ophthalmology's 2014 and 2015 meetings. The "tweets" reached 23.7 million Twitter users in 2014, and 24.5 million in 2015.



Social media is also a powerful outlet for advocacy, says Dr. Christensen.

A 1-minute YouTube video that highlighted his ophthalmology-related discussions with congressional representatives was viewed 1,700 times in the first week of its posting.
"I can tell you that my involvement in social media has opened up countless opportunities to network with others both within ophthalmology and many other specialties." -Steven M. Christiansen, M.D.
Whether you are going to use social media to connect with your colleagues, reach out to potential patients, or educate the general public, adhering to professional guidelines is key to protecting yourself and turning social media to your own advantages.

Practice Safe Social Media

The American Medical Association (AMA), and most specialty medical societies, have developed ethics policies on the use of social media during the past few years.



These recommendations tend to revolve around the privacy of both you and your patients. Here is a summary:
  1. Do not post any patient-identifiable information anywhere, ever.
  2. Set privacy settings on media sites to protect your own information and content, but know that even if you restrict your posts to your own network, the information can leak out. A good rule of thumb is to never post anything that you wouldn't want to see in a peer-reviewed journal.
  3. Maintain appropriate boundaries of the patient-physician relationship. Just because you are online doesn't mean that the rules are relaxed.
  4. Separate your personal and professional content. Set up a separate Facebook page to promote your practice or talk about professional issues, and leave the personal one for family and friends - not patients.
  5. Say something if you see a colleague posting unprofessional content that may violate professional standards.
  6. Recognize the potential consequences of your online life, including negatively affecting your reputation among patients and colleagues.
Dr. Brayer has first-hand experience of putting these guidelines into practice. An emergency department physician who Dr. Brayer friended on Facebook frequently mentioned patients that she had treated.


"Even though no names were used, it bothered me to see those posts," Dr. Brayer said. As the AMA policy suggests, Dr. Brayer told her friend that these posts could violate privacy rules.

"I would recommend health professionals should never post anything with stories about patients or conditions, even if they think they are shrouding identity. It's too close of a line to walk and patient privacy is our oath and responsibility," Dr. Brayer said.

If you are new to the professional side of social media, here are five simple tips to follow:
  1. Start a professional Twitter feed and share things that you are already doing - for example, medical conferences that you attend, clinical research, and important clinical studies in your field.
  2. Keep the personal and the professional accounts separate. For instance, have two Twitter handles, two Facebook pages, and two Instagram accounts.
  3. Make it clear that you are speaking only on behalf of yourself and are not representing your employer.
  4. Don't ever give medical advice in a public forum.
  5. Expect criticism from colleagues. Use that to educate them on the value of social media done right.
Related Article: Healthcare Organizations Missing The Social Media Boat?

"With all of its problems, there is no doubt that social media is here to stay," Dr. Brayer commented. "As healthcare professionals we should use this tool as much as possible to promote health, nutrition, medical-political points of view such as information on the Affordable Care Act, healthcare legislation, and changes in Medicare and Medicaid. I believe the public is hungry for accurate health news they can trust."

Guest Authored By Debra Gordon. Debra is an independent healthcare communications consultant specializing in health, medicine, and health policy for consumer, medical, and corporate audiences since September 1999. Her particular specialty is healthcare reform, with in-depth knowledge around the Affordable Care Act; new healthcare delivery models, including Accountable Care Organizations and Patient-Centered Medical Homes; Medicare and Medicaid policy; value-based purchasing; health information technology; quality and cost issues; managed care; and patient empowerment. Debra is one of only a handful of medical writers who can confidently communicate about the juxtaposition of healthcare reform and the clinical side of medicine for a variety of audiences, ranging from consumers to physicians to healthcare organizations, businesses, and vendors. She brings more than 25 years experience in the healthcare field as a newspaper reporter covering health and medicine for two major daily papers; provider relations manager for a mid-sized managed care organization; book editor and author; and, for the last 15 years, an independent medical communications consultant. Follow Debra on Twitter. 





With all of its problems, there is no doubt that social media is here to stay," Dr. Brayer commented.

"As healthcare professionals we should use this tool as much as possible to promote health, nutrition, medical-political points of view such as information on the Affordable Care Act, healthcare legislation, and changes in Medicare and Medicaid.

I believe the public is hungry for accurate health news they can trust.."


    • Authored by:
      Fred Hansen Pied Piper of Social Media Marketing at YourWorldBrand.com & CEO of Millennium 7 Publishing Co. in Loveland, Colorado. I work deep in the trenches of social media strategy, community management and trends.  My interests include; online business educator, social media marketing, new marketing technology, skiing, hunting, fishing and The Rolling Stones..-Not necessarily in that order ;)
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    Friday, October 12, 2018

    Physician Social Media Principles Guide?


    Social media guidance for physicians taps timeless principles..



    Social media has come a long way since Friendster, permeating every facet of American life—and medicine is no exception.

    If the decade and a half since Facebook was launched seems like an eternity on the social media timeline, it is but a blip for a guide to physician conduct that debuted more than 150 years ago.

    Yet that guide, the AMA Code of Medical Ethics, has quite a bit to say about how physicians should navigate Instagram, Twitter, Snapchat and more. Learn how to apply the enduring principles of medical ethics to the quickly moving world of social media.



    The Code recognizes both the attraction of social media and the special need for caution when physicians use it.

    “Participating in social networking and other similar opportunities can support physicians' personal expression, enable individual physicians to have a professional presence online, foster collegiality and camaraderie within the profession, provide opportunities to widely disseminate public health messages and other health communication,” notes the preamble to Opinion, 2.3.2, Professionalism in the Use of Social Media.

    “Social networks, blogs and other forms of communication online also create new challenges to the patient-physician relationship,” the Code of Medical Ethics says.

    Physicians widely—and, most often, wisely—use social media. It has also been misused, including shared images and other violations of patient privacy, as well as emails and texts that never should have been sent.

    CEJA cited three of the nine Principles of Medical Ethics in rendering its opinion on physician use of social media. Those principles include respect for human dignity and rights, honesty and upholding the standards of professionalism, and the duty to safeguard patient confidences and privacy.



    The Opinion States:

    Physicians should weigh a number of considerations when maintaining a presence online:

    (a) Physicians should be cognizant of standards of patient privacy and confidentiality that must be maintained in all environments, including online, and must refrain from posting identifiable patient information online.

    (b) When using social media for educational purposes or to exchange information professionally with other physicians, follow ethics guidance regarding confidentiality, privacy and informed consent.

    (c) When using the internet for social networking, physicians should use privacy settings to safeguard personal information and content to the extent possible, but should realize that privacy settings are not absolute and that once on the internet, content is likely there permanently.



    Physicians should routinely monitor their own internet presence to ensure that the personal and professional information on their own sites and, to the extent possible, content posted about them by others, is accurate and appropriate.

    (d) If they interact with patients on the internet, physicians must maintain appropriate boundaries of the patient-physician relationship in accordance with professional ethics guidance just as they would in any other context.

    (e) To maintain appropriate professional boundaries physicians should consider separating personal and professional content online.

    (f) When physicians see content posted by colleagues that appears unprofessional they have a responsibility to bring that content to the attention of the individual, so that he or she can remove it and/or take other appropriate actions.



    If the behavior significantly violates professional norms and the individual does not take appropriate action to resolve the situation, the physician should report the matter to appropriate authorities.

    (g) Physicians must recognize that actions online and content posted may negatively affect their reputations among patients and colleagues, may have consequences for their medical careers (particularly for physicians-in-training and medical students) and can undermine public trust in the medical profession.

    There’s A CME Course For That

    A central theme of the guidance in Opinion 2.3.2 has to do with understanding and maintaining boundaries.

    Guest Authored By Staff Writers at the AMA Wire. Members of the AMA Physicians Communications Team. Follow the AMA on Twitter.





    The AMA offers a credit-eligible CME course,

    Boundaries for Physicians: The Code of Medical Ethics, “to help physicians identify and understand how to maintain proper boundaries with their patients and to articulate and understand the underlying importance of those boundaries to the practice of medicine.” The module is free to members ($20 for non-embers) and covers a wide range of situations, including social media.."


      • Post Crafted By:
        Fred Hansen Pied Piper of Social Media Marketing at GetMoreHere.com & CEO of Millennium 7 Publishing Co. in Loveland, CO. where I work deep in the trenches of social media strategy, community management and trends.  My interests include; online business educator, social media marketing, new marketing technology, skiing, hunting, fishing and The Rolling Stones..-Not necessarily in that order ;)
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      Location: Loveland, CO 80538, USA

      Friday, August 3, 2018

      Is Social Media For Physicians?


      Social media for physicians: What's to gain, what's to lose?

      Social media is not overrated. Some professionals may think that the power of social media is overvalued or that their industries will not benefit from online platforms, but I think that is far from the truth. Social media is free for all, and its advantages are available to everyone, but only if they know how to use them efficiently.



      Health Care And The Internet

      The internet has given birth to the proliferation and continuous growth of health care in society. Today, there are over 100,000 health and fitness mobiles apps with millions of daily downloads. According to Greatcall, as of 2017, weight loss mobile health apps account for 50 million downloads, while exercise apps have 26.5 million downloads. 85% of those who’ve downloaded these apps also use social media for health.

      In the same way, physicians have also been using the internet to learn more about their field as well as share information with patients and clients. As the same source reveals, 80% of physicians use smartphones and medical apps. 30% of mobile health users are caregivers and 93% of physicians also believe that health apps improve health, while 40% say mobile health services — be it via apps or social media — may reduce the number of visits to doctors.



      Physicians have also been using social media for professional research, to share their knowledge and to engage with patients.

      According to PM360 Online, the use of social media by physicians is divided into three levels: content production, content commenting and curating, and passive content consumption.

      Sadly, of all levels, the one that will benefit the industry the most has the least number of participants. Only 1% of all health care professionals use social media to be content creators — publishing original content via blogs, forums and websites.

      What's more, only 9% of physicians engage with patients and other health care providers -- this includes physicians who reply to comments, join group discussions or share helpful information and links on social media platforms.



      The biggest chunk of online users is passive content consumers.

      Ninety percent of doctors on social media just read relevant information about their patients and their practice without engaging or sharing their knowledge. These statistics are what health care professionals can take advantage of today.

      If you’re a physician, you can start building an online presence by using social media platforms.

      Moreover, you can join the 1% of physicians who have used the internet as thought leaders. Here are some of the benefits of social media for physicians:



      What To Gain

      Build online presence: Marketing yourself is a lot like marketing a product — you highlight your best asset so that people will prefer your service over others. Today, people turn to the internet for almost everything, including looking for health care information. Social media is one of the best platforms to help you establish your brand.

      Having a presence online will help people learn more about you and your service and what makes you stand out from the rest. When patients want to search for the physician nearest them, your profile should pop up on their searches. If your profile has the right content and positive reviews, clients will choose you over other physicians.



      Establish Yourself As A Thought Leader

      Patients have spent more time researching health information online than visiting doctors. In a year, the average American visits a doctor three times while spending 52 hours on the internet searching for health information.

      Moreover, Health Union (registration required) reports that by 2016, Facebook was the second most used online resource for health information at 65% — a jump from 2009’s 39%. A study by Wego Health also reveals that the site is the top platform used by people who are sharing health information. Eighty-seven percent say they share health information on Facebook via posts.

      With social media’s importance in health information dissemination, it would be wise to join the 1% of physicians who provide medical content to users. By publishing in-depth, original content on important and pressing health matters, patients will see you as a source of valuable information. Eventually, they will see as a thought leader and will value the information you publish.



      What To Lose

      Hard to monitor return on investment: Monitoring the returns of social media campaigns is not as easy. Over the years, there have been new studies and formulas established to monitor the return on investment of social media campaigns. While tools are available on platforms to monitor post reach and likes, its correlation to sales is complicated. Things get even more complex if you will try to record patient referrals.

      However, while concrete figures are hard to produce, seeing yourself as a thought leader that people use as a resource is often enough of a return. As more and more people visit your profiles, they’ll see you as an expert in your medical field, which may lead to more clients for you.

      Time: Obviously, handling social media isn’t a walk in the park. It requires a lot of time for planning strategies, writing content and analyzing data. Social media marketing isn’t just about posting articles or photos. Each piece of content should be well thought out and will work around your strategy.

      Guest Authored By Irfan Jafrey. Irfan is the CEO and Founder of Roosterly, a social media A.I. and marketing platform that’s changing how executives interact online. Follow Irfan on Twitter.





      "To reach the most prospect clients, your social media should be carefully calibrated. This will require much of your time.

      Sadly, for physicians flushed with patients and meetings, this is something you may not have. However, I think when it comes to social media, the good outweighs the bad. -IrfanJafrey


        • Post Crafted By:
          Fred Hansen Pied Piper of Social Media Marketing at YourWorldBrand.com & CEO of Millennium 7 Publishing Co. in Loveland, Colorado. I work deep in the trenches of social media strategy, community management and trends.  My interests include; online business educator, social media marketing, new marketing technology, skiing, hunting, fishing and The Rolling Stones..-Not necessarily in that order ;)
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        Location: Loveland, CO 80538, USA
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