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Should private practices adopt their own social media guidelines?
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Depends on the practice
 Cary M. Silverman |
I do not think there needs to be a standard operating procedure for all medical practices and ophthalmology practices in regard to how they are going to use social media. Our protocol is that we do not break patient confidentiality, and we try to be non-controversial. However, we do not have anything written to say what my staff or I do as far as social media goes. You need to use common sense. We are still a medical practice, and we need to treat it as such. Personally, I do not think something needs to be in writing, but I think that will vary by practice. The practice needs to be comfortable with what it is posting. Some people may not be comfortable with what I am doing in my practice and vice versa, but I think it is going to be on an individual basis.
We use social media a lot in our practice for promotion and to talk about our LASIK and cataract practices. We have Facebook fan pages, we have a blog, and I am involved on Twitter. But social media is an evolving process. Things I did 6 months ago I no longer do, and I am sure there are things I will be doing in 6 months that I am not doing now. Social media can also be important in taking an advocacy stance or to educate the public. If we see questions online, we try to answer them for the patients. We try to be an online source for patients who have eye care questions or even general health questions. It is just to keep awareness out there.
I have not had any negative experiences from using social media. I think the trick is to not offend anybody. Sometimes people will say something really ridiculous, and you just have to be careful not to make them feel foolish. Once it is out there, it is out there permanently. You cannot take it away. I guess if a mistake is made, the first thing you need to do is apologize for it, but we have not had that issue at this point.
Cary M. Silverman, MD, is Medical Director of EyeCare 20/20 in East Hanover, N.J., specializing in LASIK and refractive cataract surgery. Dr. Silverman has been actively involved in social media in his practice for the past 4 years. Known as @TheLASIKDoc, he has more than 4,700 followers on Twitter. Dr. Silverman has no financial disclosures related to this article.
Certain guidelines necessary
 Paul M. Stubenbordt |
Establishing guidelines makes the structure and function of your Facebook, Twitter and YouTube accounts well understood before they take off. Some less-informed employees might not yet realize the potential of social media or the consequences of posting something inappropriate. Having your own practice guidelines would steer them in the right direction.
I believe that certain guidelines are essential. Most practices should have one, and only one, person responsible for updating their social media sites because that person will know what to post and what not to post. Remember, your social media must be HIPAA compliant. Although social media has its own set of guidelines such as privacy settings, culpability ultimately rests with you.
Other guidelines are nonessential. For example, you do not need to set a time interval for updates. Although updating once every day would be nice, I do not recommend updating when you do not have anything to say. You may have Facebook friends who post updates each and every time they blink, and inevitably you lose interest. Seek out and post interesting stories and updates as they come in. Keep your subscribers aware of what is going on at your practice, in your industry, etc., but do not waste their time with empty content.
I believe all practices should incorporate social media guidelines. But most practices still seem to struggle with the management of social media. For practices that are on top of their games, or for practices that are ready to commit themselves, social media guidelines would be ideal.
Paul M. Stubenbordt is founder of Stubenbordt Consulting Inc., a full-service refractive consulting and advertising agency in Southlake, Texas. He also maintains a blog for the OSN SuperSite that discusses how practices can optimize social media. Disclosure: Mr. Stubenbordt consults with ophthalmology practices on social media.