’How human can your doctor be?’

This headline on a recent blog post caught my eye. Briefly, the blog referred to a recent study in Medical Education that sought to find out whether medical student behavior, as seen on social media, reflected the degree of professionalism the students would bring to their practice—and if so, should that influence a patient’s physician selection decision? The question isn’t new, although social media adds a dimension to it that wasn’t there even a decade ago.

On the other side of the table, if more patients are using websites to see how physicians measure up with their peers, can physicians do the same to get information about their patients (e.g., finding out if a patient is following pre-surgery instructions)? More importantly, does your social media policy address this question? The amount of information online is expanding ever more rapidly, and the ways of delivering that content are also exploding. More information delivered faster can aid patient-physician interactions, but screens can’t replace honest discussions. If your organization has implemented a social media policy (or policies) that work, I’d like to hear about it, even if you’ve adopted a “no-Internet” rule.

 

Thanks for reading! 

 

Mary Stevens, editor, Medical Staff leader Insider