March 4th, 2011 by Bryan Vartabedian, M.D. in Opinion, True Stories
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This week a reporter cornered me on the issue of professional behavior in the social space. How is it defined? I didn’t have an answer. But it’s something that I think about.
Perhaps there isn’t much to think about. As a “representative” of my hospital and a physician to the children in my community, how I behave in public isn’t any different than a decade ago. Social media is just another public space. Sometimes it’s easy to forget that we’re in public. When I’m wrapped up in a Twitter thread it’s easy to forget that the world is watching. But the solution is simple: Always remember that the world is watching.
On Twitter I think and behave as I do in public: Very much myself but considerate of those around me. I always think about how I might be perceived.
Here’s a better question, online or off: What is professional behavior? I have a pediatrician friend who, along with the rest of his staff, wears polo shirts and khaki shorts in the summer. The kids love it. One of my buttoned-down colleagues suggested that this type of dress is “unprofessional.” Or take a handful of physicians and ask them to review a year of my blog posts and my Twitter feed. I can assure you that some will identify elements that they find “unprofessional.” I believe I keep things above board.
This is all so subjective.
The reporter was also interested in how I separate my professional and personal identities in the online space. I’m not sure the two can be properly divided. The line is increasingly smudged. I try to keep Facebook as something of a personal space. I think it was Charlene Li who suggested that she only “friends” people she knows well enough to have over for dinner. That’s evolving as my rule as well. But independent of how I define “well enough,” Facebook is still a public space. My comments and photos can be copied to just about anywhere.
Social media has not forced the need for new standards of physician conduct. We just need to be smarter than we were before. Everyone’s watching.
*This blog post was originally published at 33 Charts*
August 2nd, 2010 by Bryan Vartabedian, M.D. in Better Health Network, Health Policy, News, Opinion
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In a move that may represent a new level of social health organization within large institutions, the Mayo Clinic announced that it has launched The Mayo Clinic Center for Social Media. Mayo intends to “accelerate effective application of social media tools throughout Mayo Clinic and to spur broader and deeper engagement in social media by hospitals, medical professionals and patients to improve health globally.”
Look for more information in Mayo’s press release which is diplomatically vague while at the same time lofty and enticing.
So what does this really mean?
The Mayo Clinic recognizes opportunity. The opportunity to formally offer comprehensive social media training to hospitals and medical schools is huge. The Mayo Clinic can and should leverage what they’ve done both to their own advantage and to help create a new standard for providers. While the details are forthcoming, Mayo Clinic’s manager of social and sydicated media Lee Aase tells us that Mayo wants to make available its resources, training, toolkits and legal guidelines to fledgling hospitals. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at 33 Charts*
July 29th, 2010 by Bryan Vartabedian, M.D. in Better Health Network, Health Policy, Opinion, Research
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I have a friend actively involved in social health applying for medical school. She reached out to ask me how much should she make of her social media involvement? Will the mention of participation on a SXSW panel or the start of a social community help or hurt her application?
Actually a good question. Some academics, after all, see social media as a waste of time, but many are curious about it. The really smart ones understand its potential power. So as a medical school applicant you can see how this could work for you or against you.
While initially I thought that positioning yourself as a social health innovator could be something of a liability, I think the potential upside outweighs risk. But like so many things, it’s all in how you set it up. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at 33 Charts*
