During the week I was talking to some of the doc2doc team and they asked me what I thought about the GMC guidance on social media.
I think that the guidance is good in that it states that the use of social media can very positive and worthwhile for any doctor. I think that it is likely to increase engagement with social media for doctors, and through that provide many opportunities for learning. It doesn't provide guidance on some of the issues which I think are important, for example, what responsibilities does a doctor have before encouraging patients to engage in a social media space. We will have to wait for future iterations to deal with these scenarios.
But within the twittersphere and blogosphere the reaction has been dominated by controversy over the statement that "If you identify yourself as a doctor in publicly accessible social media, you should also identify yourself by name."
I still hear people talking about the guidance being impossible to operationalise because how will the GMC identify these pseudonymous doctors? But why would they be trying to? No one would know if that person was really a doctor or not. The GMC have clearly said that the guidance does not "change the threshold for investigating concerns about a doctor's fitness to practice". This means that being anonymous/pseudonymous will never be an issue in itself. But if it was established that a doctor was for example bullying a colleague, or breaking patient confidentiality, then the fact that they were doing this without revealing their identity might be seen as being an aggravating factor.
Some people say that the guidance can't protect the public from charlatans who represent themselves as doctors when they are not. Well, in a way it does. If it is good practice to identify yourself then we can tell the public that they should not trust the authority of any one who represents themselves as a doctor, but does not identify themselves, and then tries to give them advice.
When I tweeted the link to this interview earlier, Phil replied
@amcunningham @scoopit interesting - raises issue of @gmcuk believing drs can separate their medical & personal presence on twitter
— Phil Williams (@scottishphil83) May 4, 2013
Is it possible to separate medical and personal presence on Twitter? Why would you want to? Are doctors concerned that their personal interests or feelings will affect their relationships with colleagues or patients? If so then they may wish to try and separate our these different parts of their identity by setting up more than one account. But personally I'm happy enough to tweet about going to a gig from my
The very lovely @efterklang at the @fleecebristol twitter.com/amcunningham/s…
— AnneMarie Cunningham (@amcunningham) April 21, 2013
A few weeks ago I was asked to write a few paragraphs on how I think about how I present myself online for this ebook on "Social Media and Mental Health Practice".
How do I present myself online?
I first started using social media because I wanted to network so that I could do my job in medical education better. Yes, I am also a GP but I did not see social media as something that would help me to be a better doctor. I’m still not sure that it does, although I certainly do not think that it makes me a worse one. But I am very aware that most of what I say and do within social media is public. I want it to be that way. I do not aim what I say at my patients (or students) but I’m aware that they might read it, and I do not want them to be shocked or upset or worried by anything that they see me write. I aim to be professional, and I aim to respect professional boundaries.
When I am in the consulting room I reveal very little personal information. I doubt that patients are really interested. They walk in to see me and want and need to talk about them, not me. They often politely ask how I am. If I’m running late, I might smile and say, ‘Busy!’ But I would not share my own personal woes and worries with a patient. It would be wrong for me to burden them with my personal concerns. Of course, if they ask did I enjoy my holiday we might chat briefly about that. I don’t close down these conversations but I would never initiate talk about myself.
I share very little personal information online. I do not usually talk about my friends or family publicly online, and this is often to protect their privacy. However, this year I am sharing a photo that I take every day. In some ways this often reveals more personal information about me that what I write. It is something that I am aware of but rarely feel constrained by. I think that in many ways I am quite a private person, so this maybe more than being ‘professional’ defines how I am online.
Of course I might share some difficulties online, for example struggling to make technology work just the way I want it to! I don’t think that is a problem. It shows a different side of me and it is unlikely to impact in any way on the professional relationships which are important to me.I have thought about how I present myself online over the years. I try to be calm, collected, honest and independent. I hope that I come across as I do when I am offline. I am proud that when I meet people offline, who have first known me through social media, they often say that they feel as if they know me already. I would be unhappy if my online presence was considered inauthentic, so this pleases me.
How do you manage the boundaries between personal and professional? What are the issues for you?
