AMA adopts policy for physicians’ professional use of social media

The American Medical Association recently adopted a new social media policy that will help physicians better use social networking sites in developing relationships with patients.

The policy will guide physicians in maintaining a positive online presence and preserving the integrity of the patient-physician relationship when using these sites as a means of professional communication, according to an AMA press release.

“Using social media can help physicians create a professional presence online, express their personal views and foster relationships, but it can also create new challenges for the patient-physician relationship,” Mary Anne McCaffree, MD, an AMA Board member, stated in the release. “The AMA’s new policy outlines a number of considerations physicians should weigh when building or maintaining a presence online.”

The policy encourages physicians to take the following steps:

use privacy settings to safeguard personal information and content to the fullest extent on social networking sites;
routinely monitor their Internet presence to ensure that the personal and professional information on their personal sites and content about them posted by others is accurate and appropriate;
maintain appropriate patient-physician relationship boundaries when interacting or consulting with patients online, while ensuring that patient privacy and confidentiality is maintained;
consider separating personal content from professional content online; and
recognize that actions online and posted content can negatively affect their reputations among patients and colleagues and may have consequences for their careers.

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