Article review: Unprofessional online content

Every September, JAMA publishes a special edition on medical education. This September 2009, one particularly caught my eye because of my interest in educational technologies.


As great as Twitter, Facebook, blogs, and other Web 2.0 technologies are in enhancing transparency and real-time collaboration, there are down sides. It can also blur the line separating your professional persona as a physician and your personal life persona. So for me, I avoid posting personal topics.
  • Do I really want a patient to read about my recent vacation?
  • Do I want my boss to be reading about my frustrations of the day?
  • Will any of my online posts reflect poorly on emergency physicians or myself?
For these reasons, I have emptied my Facebook account and no longer post things there. In my brief experimenting with Facebook, I found that I had little control of what was posted about or in response to me. I'm more sure of this move, especially with Facebook's recent announcement of trying to make user content more public.

In this JAMA article, 130 medical school deans (or their representatives) were anonymously surveyed about incidents where students posted unprofessional content online. While only 60% of schools responded (78/130), there were some interesting findings:
  • 60% (47/78) reported incidences of unprofessional posting
  • 52% (22/42) reported use of profanity
  • 48% (19/40) reported frankly discriminatory language
  • 39% (17/44) reported them being intoxicated
  • 38% (16/42) reported sexually suggestive material
  • 13% (6/46) reported patient confidentiality violations
There were 3 instances of student dismal from these infractions.

Bottom line
Web 2.0 technologies are widely available and used by the upcoming generation of learners. It's not just a fad, as one of my tech-averse colleagues thinks. Medical schools need to increase awareness amongst students about how they each leave a "digital footprint". This would fit nicely within the professionalism curriculum.


Reference
Chretien KC, Greysen SR, Chretien JP, Kind T. Online posting of unprofessional content by medical students.JAMA. 2009 Sep 23;302(12):1309-15.
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