The Decision to Access Patient Information From a Social Media Site: What Would You Do?

Abstract

Purpose The current study examined the prevalence with which healthcare providers use a social media site account (e.g., Facebook), the extent to which they utilize social media sites in clinical practice, and their decision-making process after accessing patient information from a social media site. Methods Pediatric faculty and trainees from a medical school campus were provided a social media site history form and seven fictional social media site adolescent profile vignettes that depicted concerning information. Participants were instructed to rate their personal use and beliefs about social media sites and to report how they would respond if they obtained concerning information about an adolescent patient from their public social media site profile. Results Healthcare providers generally believed it not to be an invasion of privacy to conduct an Internet/social media site search of someone they know. A small percentage of trainees reported a personal history of conducting an Internet search (18%) or a social media site search (14%) for a patient. However, no faculty endorsed a history of conducting searches for patients. Faculty and trainees also differed in how they would respond to concerning social media site adolescent profile information. Conclusions The findings that trainees are conducting Internet/social media site searches of patients and that faculty and trainees differ in how they would respond to concerning profile information suggest the need for specific guidelines regarding the role of social media sites in clinical practice. Practice, policy, and training implications are discussed.

Social Media and Clinical Care

“…17 A study of pediatric faculty and trainees found that 14% to 18% of trainees (but no faculty) had conducted an Internet or social media Web site search for information about a patient; 14% of faculty stated they would conduct an Internet search for additional patient information if necessary. 18 Some physicians also make the deliberate decision to "friend," or connect, on social networks with their patients to engage patients and seem more approachable. 19 Others have done so with less certainty and have reflected on the complexity of the situation.…”

“…18 However, significant variation exists in how providers would respond to accessed information. For example, when pediatric trainees and faculty were given a series of hypothetical vignettes involving concerning information (eg, suicidal ideation or reference to drug use) gleaned from a patient's public social media site profile, respondents differed on how they would use that information, from immediately contacting the parents/guardians or law enforcement to using that information at the next clinical visit to doing nothing.…”

“…For example, when pediatric trainees and faculty were given a series of hypothetical vignettes involving concerning information (eg, suicidal ideation or reference to drug use) gleaned from a patient's public social media site profile, respondents differed on how they would use that information, from immediately contacting the parents/guardians or law enforcement to using that information at the next clinical visit to doing nothing. 18 So, while the initial action of looking up patient information may be ethically sound, there lacks consensus about how best to use this information in clinical care. It is also unclear how routine use of patient search information might impact the patient-physician relationship.…”

La participación de los stakeholders de las asociaciones contra el cáncer en Facebook

“…Varios autores (Jent et al, 2011;Moorhead et al, 2013;Veneroni et al, 2015) alertan sobre el peligro que entraña este último uso y señalan al mismo tiempo la necesidad de controlar, monitorizar o establecer algún tipo de protocolo que regule la interacción entre médicos y usuarios a través de las redes sociales.…”

Comunicación sobre el cáncer en Facebook. Las asociaciones de Argentina, Chile, Colombia y España

“…Por su parte, Jent et al (2011) ahondan en las poten cialidades de esa interacción pero insisten, como hacían los estudios mencionados sobre redes sociales en gene ral, en la necesidad de establecer guías o criterios para articularla. De hecho, una extensión muy frecuente de esta interacción es la creación de grupos de pacientes, familiares cuidadores, profesionales o varios de estos colectivos simultáneamente (Al Mamun, Ibrahim & Turin, 2015;Frimming, Polsgrove & Bower, 2011;Gajaria, Yeung, Goodale & Charach, 2011;Leis et al 2013;Zhang, He & Sang, 2013).…”