1

Professional use of social media in medical educationPresentation to uOttawa Undergraduate Medical Education Program

Sept. 2, 2015uOttawaAnn Fuller @annfullerPat Rich @cmaer

2

Lecture Objectives

Discuss the potentials of social networking tools such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Google+ in medical education.

Discuss the safe and professional behaviours regarding social networking usage.

3

Who I am

Pat Rich – Strategic Advisor, CMA Enterprise Marketing and Communications

Experienced health care communicator with a keen interest and involvement in the use of social media tools in medicine and health care and believers in the value of these tools

WHO I AM NOT

Physician

Academic

Medical students and social media – A perspective

When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child; but when I became a man, I put away childish things

1 Corinthians 13

Wha

t is

Soci

al M

edia

? Extension of every day interaction Conversations & exchange Communities of shared interest Tools for innovation Integrates technology

6

Social media, health care and medical students – a timely case study

Canadian Medical Association General Council meeting

Halifax – Aug. 24-26

7

#cmagc

Impressions – 23.4 million

Tweets - 10,758

Participants - 1,946

8

9

A changing environment: Are you digitally literate enough to be a physician? “Today’s medical professionals must be masters of different skills that are related to using digital devices or online solutions” and mastering those skills “is now a crucial skill set that all medical professionals require.”

Dr. Bertalan Mesko

The democratization of media has made every physician an independent publisher …physicians now have to learn to manage and maintain their identity in the public space,”

Dr. Bryan Vartabedian, From an article by Stephen Pelletier, in the AAMC Reporter, Aug, 2014

10

Why care“Whether physicians are active on social media or not, an understanding of social media and its potential implications on their professional lives is essential.”

Dr. Hartley Stern, CEO, Canadian Medical Protective Association

11

Why consider using social media

To stay informed As a learning tool in medical education Communicate (engage) with peers and patients Disseminate information Advocate for/against something To help get a job To deliver clinical care Because if you decide not to use social media, your decision should be

based on sound knowledge about what you are choosing not to use

Impact to patients Liability Privacy Ethics Boundaries Time theft Reputation Compensation

The

chal

leng

es

13

Opportunities for change

Patient & family support

AdvocacyHealthEducation

Clinical care Research

14

Opportunities for change

HealthEducation

15

Opportunities for change

Patient & family support

16

Opportunities for change

Clinical care

18

Opportunities for change

Advocacy

Average time between discovery of medical innovation and widespread adoption?

22

Social media “policies” by academic medical centers or medical schools point out the “don’t do this, don’t do that”, but let’s also focus on what the trainees CAN do. Let’s consider how we can IMPROVE our current health care system and ultimately the care of patients with innovative uses of social media and social networking …

Dr. Alex Djuricich, Associate Dean for CME, University of Indiana School of Medicine

23

Who is making the rules

College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario Guidelines Canadian Federation of Medical Students (CFMS) Guide to Medical

Professionalism: Recommendations For Social Media Canadian Medical Association – Issues and Rules of Engagement Canadian Medical Protective Association

24

Key elements of the rules

Apply same principles of professionalism that apply in personRespect patient confidentiality

“Student professionalism … can be strained by the use of social media due to its familiarity, ubiquity and impersonal nature.”

“Social media should be treated as a public forum akin to an op-ed in a newspaper or a lecture. Anything that would be inappropriate to share in these more traditional outlets should be considered inappropriate to share online.”

CFMS Guide to Medical Professionalism: Recommendations for Social Media

25

“Don’t Lie, Don’t Pry

Don’t Cheat, Can’t Delete

Don’t Steal. Don’t Reveal”

Dr. Farris Timimi, medical director, Mayo Clinic Center for Social Media, April 5, 2012

Case study: The Political Resident

Brandon is a resident who, since starting medical school, has kept a blog about his views on medicine, medical education, and health care politics. Recently, Brandon has blogged extensively about his extreme political views regarding the upcoming election. His residency director reads his blog and tells him that he must delete his posts and can no longer write new ones, as he is not only a hospital employee and a representative of the residency program, but also a professional who must represent himself accordingly

American College of Medical Schools Digital Literacy Toolkit

28

Discussion

Is it reasonable for the residency program director to tell this resident that this non-medical blog should be removed? The residency director tells this resident to remove his blog. What would an appropriate response be? A. What a resident does on his own time is his business. B. He should have asked him to remove the offending posts and be

careful in the future. C. When you are a student and resident, you are ultimately under the

guidance of your dean and residency director.

29

Case study II – Looking up patients on Facebook

Susan is a psychiatrist who is treating a patient who is will reveal little or any personal information.Susan believes a better understanding of the patient and his individual circumstances would aid her in providing more better treatment.To do this, Susan decides to look the patient up on Facebook to see what – if anything has been written about him.

30

Case study II – Looking up patients on Facebook

Topic of widespread ongoing debate in the social media community

Would it be a different situation if Susan just thought the patient was vaguely recognizable and checked on Facebook to see if he was anybody famous?

“Do it if your conscience says there’s a good clinical reason for doing so.”

– White Coat Black Art host Dr. Brian Goldman

31

Social media at medical school

Students who don’t use social media in school “are missing out.”

Dr. Mike Leveridge, Queen’s University urologist

32

Using social media in medical school: Suggestions

Facebook presence for classmates etc LinkedIn account to:

Build network for future career Follow discussion forums on medical education

Twitter account to: Develop your list of people, journals and other accounts to follow Watch (and engage) medical Twitter community (e.g. #hcsmca,

#hcsm) Follow and engage your professors

33

▸ Questions?