No need to call the receptionist and set up those doctor appointments-send a quick Facebook message instead- doc is now your bestie on social media! In this post, the topic of health care and social media will be explored.
In a recent AMA Journal of Ethics article “Why Can’t We Be Friends? A Case-Based Analysis of Ethical Issues with Social Media in Health Care,” researchers Kayhan Parsi and Nanette Elster explore several case studies that threaten to down grade the benefits of social media in the health care realm. The article explains some benefits of social media in health care. These benefits include quicker government responses to health emergencies, increases healthy lifestyle awareness, people with diseases can increase connections with others and spread awareness, helps doctors find new patients, and doctor office’s can post updates for patients and find new cliental. Although the benefits of using social media making revolutionary positive impacts in health care, the use of social media can often enter risky territories.
Social media in health care can deteriorate the fine lines between business and person realms. This includes ethical issues such as doctors and medical students posting personal information regarding their patients, and patients stalking doctors; in fact, “A 2009 study published in JAMA revealed that 60 percent of medical schools surveyed ‘reported incidents of students posting unprofessional online content” (Parsi et. al, 2015). Social media has opened the doors for privacy breeches that threaten the doctor-patient confidentiality. Other issues using social media in health care are documented in the following case studies: A medical student traveled to the Dominican Republic and shares photographs of herself and locals (patients) in the area on her social media accounts. How is she to receive consent for sharing these photographs of her patients? Some may argue that incidents like these violate privacy laws and ethical norms (Parsi et. al, 2015). The next case study explores negative consequences of using social media on private practice. Several Physicians working in private practice recently butted heads when one of the Physicians publically posted political health care criticisms on his twitter page. The others working with him felt his comments would negatively impact their private practice. This case study shows that social media can also impact private practice and aggregate business endeavours. Other incidences include sharing personal information regarding patients, or even more making fun of patients as an attempt to “vent” to friends and family.
Some of the social media misuse in the health care system can be attributed to American’s addiction to using social media. This social media addiction and impulse expands from one’s personal life and into the public sector; therefore, making it an easy tool to misuse. When a social media user in engaging in this activity and receives “likes” and “shares” on their posts and pictures, these psychological rewards stimulate dopamine and oxytocin in the brain. Researcher Courtney Seiter explains: “In 10 minutes of social media time, oxytocin levels can rise as much as 13%—a hormonal spike equivalent to some people on their wedding day.” This is the source of social media addiction and can cause users to seek more attention (good or bad) in order to keep stimulating these receptors in the brain. Some questions to consider: Are these negative components in health care part of using social media, or are their ways to monitor and prevent these incidents from occurring?
References
Parsi, K., & Elster, N. (2015). Why Can’t We Be Friends? A Case-Based Analysis of
Ethical Issues with Social Media in Health Care. AMA American Medical Association, 17(11), 1009-1018. Retrieved March 9, 2016, from http://journalofethics.ama-assn.org/2015/11/peer1-1511.html
Seider, C. (2015, August 10). The Psychology of Social Media. Retrieved March 09, 2016, from https://blog.bufferapp.com/psychology-of-social-media
Tags: media