A PGY-2 has asked me to help publicize this project. He asks interesting and important questions. I would love to see a large number of comments to this post.
As blogging and online physician disclosures become more common, many raise concerns about the tone and content of posts by physicians. While posting HIPAA violations and directly identifiable patient information is clearly forbidden, how do we address the “gray areas” of blogging, such as derogatory portrayals of physicians, nurses, or patients, or use of crude language? Could privacy be violated indirectly through posts detailing patient encounters? Some institutions are beginning to create formal blogging rules and regulations to restrict this behavior for their own protection.
Given these developments, should formal professionalism guidelines be developed for physician blogging? If so, what should they include?
How do you make decisions about what to put online? What recommendations do you have for other bloggers to “stay out of trouble?”
My responses
- Since I do not blog anonymously, I am relatively careful about my posts. I go by the same rule I use in medical charts – what if someone reads this in court? What if someone reads this to me while being interviewed on national TV?
- Privacy could be indirectly violated through posts about patients. Privacy can be violated when publishing case reports in journals. I personally work hard to de-identify my presentations.
- Once again I am against formal professionalism guidelines for physician blogging. As a libertarian, I consider my blog an extension of the First Amendment. I take responsibility for my words, and do not want thought police, blogging police or physician specialty police telling me about what I can blog. I should use common sense, but if I do not, that is my problem.
- I blog about issues that tickle my fancy. I have no big plan, but take ideas from other bloggers, newspaper articles, rounds, discussions with non-physicians, and discussions with colleagues, residents and students. This blog is my personal journal of ideas. I write about things about which I feel passionate.
- How does one stay out of trouble when blogging – again use commonsense! I have stirred passions often – malpractice lawyers often attack me, I have angered ER physicians several times – but generally I hope readers find this blog thought provoking and sometimes educational.
I will be glad to expand on any points that I did not address sufficiently.
What do you think?
