GMC to create guidance on doctors’ use of social media
pharmafile | April 23, 2012 | News story | Medical Communications | BMA, Facebook, GMC, Twitter, social media
The General Medical Council is creating new draft guidance about what it expects from doctors when they are using social media.
The doctors’ regulator says the standards expected of doctors should not change because they are communicating through social media rather than face-to-face, phone or email.
Commenting on the draft social media guidance Niall Dickson, chief executive of the GMC, said: “Online communication has become a key part of every doctor’s personal and professional life, and the use of social media is now very common.
“These newer forms of communication can be incredibly useful, but it is important that the standards of behaviour and respect for others which are expected from doctors in the ‘real’ world are also observed online.
“Our guidance is designed to reflect what is expected of doctors by their patients, the profession and the wider public.
“That is why we are asking for comments to ensure this latest set of guidance reflects what doctors, patients and others feel is of value,” he added.
The doctors’ trade union the British Medical Association has already released its own guidance on the use of social media by its members.
‘Using social media: practical and ethical guidance for doctors and medical student’ provides a brief overview of the challenges and potential pitfalls that health professionals may encounter when using social media.
It also gives practical and ethical guidance on a range of subjects, including: protecting patient confidentiality, defamation, the public-private boundary and the potential impact of social media use on medical education and employment.
The GMC’s social media guidance is part of a consultation on a suite of explanatory guidance, which includes revisions of existing documents as well as new material.
The new explanatory guidance will come into effect later this year when published with a new edition of ‘Good Medical Practice’.
To take part in the GMC’s consultation, visit www.gmc-uk.org/gmp2012. It runs until 13 June 2012.
Social media problems
Both the BMA and the GMC are reacting to the increased use of Twitter and Facebook by healthcare professionals, and the problems using these new media can create.
Nurses have been sacked after making comments about patients and colleagues, posting photographs of themselves exposing their breasts while in uniform, and putting pictures of patients online.
In the US, four nursing students were expelled after putting a photograph of themselves with a human placenta on Facebook.
In Sweden, a nurse was disciplined for putting photographs from the operating theatre, again on Facebook.
In the UK there have already been several incidences of tweets or online interactions that have ended up in the national news, including one story about a Scottish junior doctor who was suspended over comments he made about senior doctors on a website for doctors and students.
This echoes problems that pharma has found using social media, although the industry’s problems are of a different nature.
Last year, Bayer was reprimanded by the PMCPA after it tweeted about a prescription medicine, something not allowed under the ABPI Code.
Earlier this month, Janssen said it was pulling its award-winning Psoriasis 360 Facebook page after it started to receive a high volume of troublesome comments.
Ben Adams is the reporter for Pharmafocus and InPharm.com and manages the DigiBlog site. He can be contacted via: email or Twitter.
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