Online Dos and Don'ts for Doctors

Health News from NPR:

Is it OK for your doctor to tweet a drunken photo?

What if the photo shows the doctor drinking, say, at a staff holiday party, but not noticeably under the influence?

Or what if the festive physician is wearing scrubs in the photo, which might imply he was drinking on the job?

The answers to those questions, according to the people responsible for disciplining doctors: definitely not, probably and maybe.

To help medical professionals navigate online dos and don’ts, a group of researchers sent surveys to the directors of state medical licensing boards across the country.

The surveys contained hypothetical examples of social media activity, including tweets and posts to Facebook and blogs. The researchers asked the directors to say whether these social media activities would prompt board investigations.

Survey results available here from the Annals of Internal Medicine.

Read the full news story here.