Digital Pharma: Facebook warning for UK doctors
pharmafile | July 14, 2011 | News story | Medical Communications | BMA, Digital Pharma blog, doctors, nurses, social media
UK doctors have been told not to accept patients as Facebook friends in order to maintain professional boundaries.
The BMA’s new social media guidance also warns that ethical and legal duties apply just as much on the internet as when they are offline and recommends adopting a conservative approach to privacy settings.
The doctors’ association says use of Facebook and Twitter is widespread among doctors and medical students and it hopes the guidelines will help “prevent potential social media pitfalls”.
Dr Tony Calland, chairman of the BMA’s Medical Ethics Committee, said: “Medical professionals should be wary of who could access their personal material online, how widely it could be shared and how it could be perceived by their patients and colleagues.
Earlier this year Facebook revealed that around half of the UK uses its social network and many doctors have been grappling with how to use social media in the most responsible way.
However, the BMA’s headline-grabbing mention of Facebook may overstate its case, when it says a minority of doctors would consider accepting Facebook friend requests from patients, by relying on two-year old research of 200 doctors in France.
Nevertheless its guidance is a positive step towards joining up the online and offline worlds, with its reminder for doctors and medical students that ethical and legal duties apply equally on the internet as in other media.
Social networking advice for nurses
The BMA’s guidelines come just days after advice was published by the Nursing and Midwifery Council warning nurses on the dangers of social networking and Facebook in particular.
The NMC was moved to act after receiving an increasing number of enquiries about online conduct and improper use of Facebook in particular.
It says “online incidents are to be treated as gravely as if they had happened in the real world” and is clear that nurses should not accept friend requests from current or former patients.
NMC chief executive Professor Dickon Weir-Hughes said: “I would advise nurses and midwives to exercise caution when using social networking sites. They could risk their registration if they share sensitive information, make inappropriate comments, or befriend patients online.”
The NMC’s guidelines suggest keeping personal and professional social networking as separate as possible and considering everything that is posted as public, even in ‘private’ Facebook discussions.
It also counsels not to accept the preset privacy and sharing settings on Facebook without thinking carefully about what should be shared with different kinds of friends.
Read the NMC’s advice sheet on social networking
Download the BMA’s Using social media: practical and ethical guidance for doctors and medical students (pdf)
Dominic Tyer is web editor for Pharmafocus and InPharm.com and the author of the Digital Pharma blog He can be contacted via email, Twitter, LinkedIn or Google+.
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