A recent article in the Journal of the American Medical Association commented on a surprising incidence of unprofessional online behavior by medical students. With technologies like Blogger and Facebook that allow users to interface with the public, there is an unexplored territory of ethics, professionalism, and legality. There is little explicit guidance to what is and is not allowed with rapidly evolving Internet applications. A recent study surveying medical school deans found that students have indeed been cited for unprofessional behaviors online. As this has direct relevance to this blog, I figured I should comment on it.
This blog is not only accessible to the public, it is linked from the UCSF Synapse (student-run newspaper) website. I openly welcome readers from the community and have enjoyed comments and discussion from readers worldwide. Although this is a non-official interface between the University and the public, I am not at all censored and have never had any problems with freedom of speech.
It is difficult to walk the line between sharing something personal and important and violating privacy laws. I make a sincere effort on this blog to avoid any kind of legal, and more importantly, moral violations. I cite any images that I show, and do not show images of patients. I make an attempt to find images that are in the public domain. I purposely do not place ads on this blog. I do recount stories of patient interactions but I omit any patient identifiers and purposely change patient descriptors including gender and age. I avoid libel when discussing colleagues and the University. I am happy to discuss my personal interests, opinions, and ideas, but keep this blog professional. If there is anything on this blog that seems inconsistent, please do let me know and I will remove, amend, or comment on it.
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2 comments:
I am planning to write a legal education article on this topic...because it is developing and there is no real guidance on how to address the growing issue. Any suggestions on routes to take?
Very interesting! It is a new and developing field and there's potential for you to make a major impact. I'd wonder what precedents have been set (if any) and whether there are any guidelines for students in other professional fields (law, business, accounting).
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