Inappropriate Use of Social Media in Healthcare

unbefitting Use of kindly Media in healthcareThe speedy growth and widespread recitation of complaisant media has changed the behavior umteen mass communicate and touch knowledge. Social media implicate various websites such as Facebook and cheep which are the two closely popular societal networking rearrs, video sharing websites like YouTube, a class of blogs which en fitted riding habitrs to post their own articles and on the wholeow visitors to leave feedback, news forums and other healthy-disposed networking platforms of communication that people can use for educational or other purposes.In recent years a huge issuance of people around the world defend up become active users of loving media. Network of Global Agenda Councils Reports (2011-2012) showed that worldwide more than 1.2 billion of people use companionable media, a number that accounts for 82% of all profit users around the world (Councils, 2012). M some(prenominal)(prenominal) of these users explore net in coordinate to access health check culture and other to care their concerns around health link up issues or to seek out health check treatment. Furthermore many an(prenominal) health care professionals such as physicians, pharmacists and nurses use social media as a platform of communication to promote affected role health and safety as well as an education tool (Frances Griffiths, 2012).However irresponsible and debauch use of social media can result to a number of grim situations. Both healthcare providers and endurings should be aware of the risks of using social platforms of communication. potential risks among others include the breach of in-person entropy, the unexclusiveation of poor quality medical examination checkup information and the underestimation concerning the seriousness of a situation from a healthcare professional every referable to lack of adequate information or due to provision of incorrect or inaccurate data provided by a tolerant during an online reference book (Harlow, 2012).In UK there is non any specific guidance provided from the Health and Care Professions Council, moreover it has been made lay down that social media should be utilize within the relevant standards of conduct, performance and ethics. It recognises that social networking is a valuable way to communicate and share information except also points out that the healthcare professionals who forget decide to use it as part of their work essential make sure that will check off with honesty and integrity for the best interest of the public protecting enduring confidentiality and exhibiting their professionalism at all times (Health Professions Council Newsletter Issue 34 April 2011). provided in the early(prenominal) have been reported many incidents of inappropriate use of social media and unprofessional behaviour where patients individual(prenominal) data tell on the internet without their consent or cases where patient s offended because of comments made from other users related to their health status. Guardian reported that between 2008 and 2011, were carried out 72 bankrupt actions by 16 religions against staff for inappropriate use of social media. more or less of these cases were related to the breach of personal data and some other were associated either with posting of racists or sex comments or with sharing of inappropriate pictures and videos by dint of public internet forums. These incidences encouraged British Medical Association to provide guidance to its members about how to use social media in an appropriate way. (Laja, 2011).The use of social media allows patients to interact with healthcare professionals in a rapid and efficient way. Also gives them the ability to participate on their own care in orderliness to manage their health and monitor their treatment by having right away access to medical journals and having view of assorted treatment options before and during refer ence from their doctor and by using health related online applications. Likewise social media employ from healthcare professionals to connect with individuals from different geographical areas in order to contribute on their health repairment by providing them with medical documents and by creating coverion forums on health related topics. This advantage gave them the opportunity to overstate their activities introducing new services such as the online consultation and the provision of different treatment options at low cost. There are cases where social media used to promote communication both among patients and among Healthcare Professionals. Patients have the ability to share their concerns and discuss about common indispositions or possible medical treatments and on the other hand Healthcare Professionals are enabled to share information, experiences and ideas supporting their womb-to-tomb learning (KPMG, 2011).Some social networking platforms are free to the public but to some other the patients will have to pay if they need an online consultation by a healthcare professional or if they wish to discuss and share their concerns with other healthcare providers or other patients that suffering from the aforementioned(prenominal) condition. In UK operate websites like NetDoctor.co.uk which is provided and operated by National Health attend (NHS) and offer a wide range of services such as pregnancy email service and online doctor diagnosis from registered UK-based General practitioners, discussion forums and online applications like symptom checker that help patients to get a soften understanding of their healthcare needs. NHS in UK uses social media in order to improve public health by providing health related information through with(predicate) NHS choices. Also it has been integrated to other social media such as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube to promote its services and offer a broad spectrum of applications. For instance online healthy life styl e advisor, smoking secession programmes and body mass advocator (BMI) health weight calculator.These services and applications enable patients to decide whether or non they require visiting a doctor for further advice retaining their privacy. However this way of communication can be very ineffective, as examining and interpreting medical notes without the availability of a full medical history and with the absence of tangible exams can be a serious threat to the patient (Britton, 2012). In addition diagnosis can become unreliable due to lack of information and accuracy of data provided by the patient or due to underestimation of the seriousness of the situation, making online consultation inferior to a wait to face consultation.Internet usage statistics showed that the adults that are active users of Facebook and Twitter in UK come to 37.4 million and 15.5 million respectively (Ayres, 2012). Considering this amount of people it is thriving to understand how important is for Hea lthcare Professionals to use social media wisely and with professionalism.Inappropriate use of social media can affect healthcares personal and professional life. galore(postnominal) of them choose to disclose patients personal data for detecting an easily accessible online medical record for personal use but they are unaware that many of that information (including videos or pictures) they upload on the internet in some cases can be accessed, used and spread from the general public without deem (Thompson LA, 2008).It is therefore Healthcare professionals ethical and legal responsibility to protect patient confidentiality at all times on the internet as well as to other media. Some social networking platforms give the ability to the users to behave privacy settings in order to prevent uncontrolled distribution of data and to put restrictions to individuals seeking access to information that have been chosen to be kept private (Thompson LA, 2008).However concerns have been raised in the past related to protection of personal data. Many social networks upload and share data without considering any legal or ethical considerations. Publishing personal information of patients without their consent can result to legal implications. In UK entropy Protection Act limits healthcare providers from disclosing any personal information without patient consent with few exemptions. According Data Protection Act (1998) all personal data should be fairly and lawfully processed, they should be used for limited and specific purposes in a way that is adequate, relevant and not excessive, they should be accurate, held up to date and for no longer than its necessary and lastly should be kept safe and not transferred to countries without adequate date protection. today social media have become an integral part of our lives. General public uses them to obtain health related information, to connect with other users with the intention to discuss issues concerning their health, to g et educated by reading medical documents so that will get a better understanding of their condition or their disease and to pursue new treatment options in a fast and loud way. Social media have also become an essential way for healthcare professionals to provide their services in order to improve and monitor patient needs such as the online consultation. On the other hand the rapid and uncontrolled sharing of information can result to potential risks and have negative impact to the provision of health care and personal lives of both patients and healthcare professionals. Breach of personal data protection, publication of untrustworthy medical documents and faulty consultation due to lack of evidence can be some of the pitfalls that users may face.In order to avoid these drawbacks both patients and healthcare professionals need to understand the limitations of the use of social media. Creating bounds between personal and professional use of social media is essential. Healthcare pro fessionals who choose to interact with patients online must maintain appropriate boundaries concerning the relations between them. For instance, they should not discuss about health related matters on a friendly but scarce on a professional level.Additionally in order to reassure that high quality information is provided and that a conversation between a patient and a healthcare professional will have a positive outcome, both of them must build a relationship of trust by being precise and honest to each other regarding the information they share. This will cause the patient to capitalize on the doctors consultation appropriately and follow essential tips for a better result and will make it easier to healthcare professional to give the most appropriate advice. Also in my opinion healthcare professionals should provided share medical documents that based on scientific studies while patients should consult their health provider before winning any action based on information obtai ned using social media.There are personal data that should not be allowed to be shared through social media as it is very likely patients to be offended. So individuals who use social networking platforms, especially for medical purposes should be able to consider whether is safe or not to share their data with the public. Healthcare professionals must recognize that they have an ethical and legal obligation to maintain patient privacy and confidentiality at all times and need to be aware that social media cannot be completed safe for protecting the information they share. For this reason they should use social networking platforms that privacy settings can be set and are secure to the highest level.Finally I believe that healthcare professionals should be restricted from disclosing patient personal information on public internet forums and any health related data should be safeguarded and be disclosed only to the patient or other healthcare professionals if its necessary and only f or the use of medical purposes and with the consent of the patient.