Social media are becoming increasingly present in society, and are being rapidly integrated into the lives of medical students. Social media for the purpose of these recommendations is defined as any electronic forum that connects students with faculty, other health professionals, other students, patients, and the public. Such forums include, but are not limited to, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Google+, Wikipedia, Blog Posts, and LinkedIn.
A list of guidelines has been compiled by Student and Resident Affairs to help students better understand how to responsibly use social media to communicate with their peers while respecting their professional obligations as medical students. As you might have seen in other medical forums and journals, there has been a wealth of recommendations directed at health care professionals, but to date guidelines targeting medical students specifically have been lacking.
For common questions and an overview of social responsibility click here
October 15, 2012