Medics warned over Facebook risks

[LemonAndLime]

Medics are being warned to take extra care when using social media such as Facebook and Twitter. The British Medical Association guidance highlighted a series of potential pitfalls doctors face.

In particular, it said there was a risk the lines between personal and professional lives could be blurred. It comes after a series of cases in which NHS staff and other public sector workers have got into trouble through their use of social media.

In 2009, a group of doctors and nurses were suspended for posting pictures of themselves on Facebook lying down in unusual places, including a hospital helipad. And last year a civil servant found herself in the newspapers after using her Twitter account to make political points and saying she was struggling with a hangover.

bbc.co.uk/news/health-14144782

 

[Callum]

Medics aren’t the only ones. I’m was once the Chairman of a University political society (I won’t say which) and my facebook profile is under regular scrutiny.

Having said this, if you don’t have any secrets and say nothing outrageous/innappropriate/defamatory, you shouldn’t necessarily have anything to worry about - provided of course that you have suitably high privacy settings.

 

[antonivs]

Apparently you have to go to Hyde Park to have free speech rights in Britain. It is really bizarre to read that professionals aren’t allowed to express personal opinions on facebook or twitter.
I am very glad to be American and able to express my loud uninformed and obnoxious opinion whenever I like.

 

[bethanysamuel]

I went on FB briefly a couple of years ago but it didnt suit me coz it all seemed a loada ********. But recently i thought: what about if i used it again but for spreading the gospel?

 

[LemonAndLime]

Apparently you have to go to Hyde Park to have free speech rights in Britain.

What? Are you being serious? We have free speech, the only difference is that in America people who preach hate are protected by law but they’re not here. I can criticise the government happily indeed, but if I was to denounce all blacks and Jews as being from the devil and having no right to be in this country, I would quite rightly be arrested and fined. Mind police? No, idiots who spread hate don’t deserve to be protected.

It is really bizarre to read that professionals aren’t allowed to express personal opinions on facebook or twitter.

I am very glad to be American and able to express my loud uninformed and obnoxious opinion whenever I like.

I think you’ve being slightly naiive and haven’t read the article. If a doctor, whether in the USA or UK, was to post something on facebook like - “Lol I treated a patient today who was an absolute ********, wanted to punch him” then yes, he is entitled to say that under free speech in the USA and the UK, but in both countries, he would lose his job for unprofessional conduct. Whether you like it or not, not every mindless or stupid opinion can be protected in the real world.

 

[HOLY_POOH_FAN]

****Free speech is a limited not an absolute right. Pix of medical folks shown on a helipad- during work hours one assumes- and a ;lady writing about her hangover invite scrutiny.********].Each of us is responsible for ourselves and as it well known anything posted stays.

 

[antonivs]

What? Are you being serious? We have free speech, the only difference is that in America people who preach hate are protected by law but they’re not here. I can criticise the government happily indeed, but if I was to denounce all blacks and Jews as being from the devil and having no right to be in this country, I would quite rightly be arrested and fined. Mind police? No, idiots who spread hate don’t deserve to be protected.

I think you’ve being slightly naiive and haven’t read the article. If a doctor, whether in the USA or UK, was to post something on facebook like - “Lol I treated a patient today who was an absolute ********, wanted to punch him” then yes, he is entitled to say that under free speech in the USA and the UK, but in both countries, he would lose his job for unprofessional conduct. Whether you like it or not, not every mindless or stupid opinion can be protected in the real world.

I did read the article. The only examples listed were about “a group of doctors and nurses were suspended for posting pictures of themselves on Facebook lying down in unusual places, including a hospital helipad” and “a civil servant found herself in the newspapers after using her Twitter account to make political points and saying she was struggling with a hangover.”

These seem very petty to my naive American sensibilities.

 

[HOLY_POOH_FAN]

I went on FB briefly a couple of years ago but it didnt suit me coz it all seemed a loada ********. But recently i thought: what about if i used it again but for spreading the gospel?

Way to go- the VATICAN recently encouraged use of all social media for each of us to do good and spread Good News,

 

[LemonAndLime]

I did read the article. The only examples listed were about “a group of doctors and nurses were suspended for posting pictures of themselves on Facebook lying down in unusual places, including a hospital helipad” and “a civil servant found herself in the newspapers after using her Twitter account to make political points and saying she was struggling with a hangover.”

These seem very petty to my naive American sensibilities.

It’s being unprofessional. In the UK, nurses and doctors agree to a professional conduct regulation which stipulates that they should uphold the reputation of their profession and not bring it into disripute. Posting silly pictures of themselves while wearing their uniforms or not is unprofessional and especially as they’re taken on hospital grounds is certainly something to be disciplined for. It’s illegal to take photos on hospital grounds for one thing, and another - a nurse is not permitted to pose for photos wearing her uniform unless it’s under certain circumstances as it can be seen as an endorsement of the whole profession.

Also, it’s downright silly for a civil servant to be saying she’s having a hangover at work, or making politicial viewpoints.

Let me give you an example - if I wore my student nursing uniform and gave a TV interview in which I stated that I believed that David Cameron’s NHS reforms were good, I would get the sack. I should never use my position to publically endorse a political candidate. It’s the same for doctors.

 

[antonivs]

It’s being unprofessional. In the UK, nurses and doctors agree to a professional conduct regulation which stipulates that they should uphold the reputation of their profession and not bring it into disripute. Posting silly pictures of themselves while wearing their uniforms or not is unprofessional and especially as they’re taken on hospital grounds is certainly something to be disciplined for. It’s illegal to take photos on hospital grounds for one thing, and another - a nurse is not permitted to pose for photos wearing her uniform unless it’s under certain circumstances as it can be seen as an endorsement of the whole profession.

Also, it’s downright silly for a civil servant to be saying she’s having a hangover at work, or making politicial viewpoints.

Let me give you an example - if I wore my student nursing uniform and gave a TV interview in which I stated that I believed that David Cameron’s NHS reforms were good, I would get the sack. I should never use my position to publically endorse a political candidate. It’s the same for doctors.

Still seems pretty silly to me, but thanks for explaining.

 

[LemonAndLime]

Still seems pretty silly to me, but thanks for explaining.

No problem, it’s I think a tradition in many ways. Doctors and nurses are expected to be upstanding members of society.

The first nurses were actually prostitutes and beggar-women, because they were the lowest of the low and they were the only ones who could be nurses because they were low enough to see men naked when they were unmarried. They weren’t paid, and they would often steal money from the patients.

And then Florence Nightingale came along, and improved the image of nursing, and made it a fashionable profession for middle-class women. If you were a nurse you could not be married, as nursing was considered a “calling” similar to religious life or martimony. If a woman was seen taking a man into the nursing quarters, she would be fired on the spot.

Nowadays, we can be married and a nurse, but we’re still expecting to behave in a way thats considered upholding our profession.