Physicians, patients, and Facebook: Could you? Would you? Should you?
This article investigates the opinions of physicians and patients regarding the use of Facebook to communicate with one another about health-related issues. We analyzed 290 comments posted on online discussion boards and found that most (51.7%) were opposed to physicians being Facebook "friends" with patients and many (42%) were opposed to physicians having any kind of Facebook presence. Some believed that health care organizations should have a social media policy and provide social media training. We conclude with suggestions for how health care administrators can provide assistance to physicians and effectively manage their social media presence.
a School of Business & Entrepreneurship , Lindenwood University , St. Charles , Missouri , USA.
Joy V
JV
Peluchette
b Department of Management, College of Business , University of Tennessee at Chattanooga , Chattanooga , Tennessee , USA.
Katherine A
KA
Karl
c Department of Management and Marketing, Lewis School of Business , Marshall University , Charleston , West Virginia , USA.
Alberto
A
Coustasse
D006801:Humans; D020407:Internet; D010817:Physician-Patient Relations / Q000941:ethics*; D010820:Physicians / Q000523:psychology / Q000592:standards*; D018907:Privacy; D036301:Qualitative Research; D061108:Social Media / Q000941:ethics* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data / Q000639:trends
Facebook; patients; physicians; privacy; social media