I recently read a USA Today entitled “Some doctors join Facebook, Twitter; others wary,” which has sparked another debate about health care going digital. Dr. Jeff Livingston, a certified obstetrician and gynecologist, is using social media to promote his practice, MacArthur OB/GYN, and create a public platform for a subject matter that quite often is stigmatized as too confidential and personal to discuss. As he notes in the article, he isn’t publishing personal health information online, but instead shares helpful articles and advice that he believes would benefit his followers and fans. 
According to a survey published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, “Sixty percent of medical schools reported incidents of students posting unprofessional content online.” That is a significant number and certainly a concern for both patients and doctors. As a result, the American Medical Association’s Council on Ethical and Judicial Affairs is currently studying “the issue of physicians’ use of social networking,” and perhaps we might see new rules and guidelines brought forth to prevent doctors and medical practitioners from using social networking sites in the same fashion as Dr. Livingston. A similar issue was raised in the political sphere, which resulted in Maryland’s State Board of Elections adopting new legislation that regulates how political candidates use social media sites.
While there is room for concern, similar to the debate of medical records becoming digital, the partnership of social media and the health industry benefits all. Think about it. You will be able to raise minor concerns to medical professionals without having to schedule an appointment, which as we all know can be incredibly inconvenient and costly. Practices will be able to experiment with new ideas, similar to an online appointment scheduler that Macarthur OBGYN promoted on their Facebook page.
Practitioners like Dr. Livingston will also be able to create a reputation online that attracts new business and patients. Since the publication of the article, 520 tweets have shared Dr. Livingston’s integration of Facebook and Twitter with his private practice. Both his followers on Twitter and Fans on Facebook have already shown increases as well.
While the verdict is still out on health professionals using social media, we are going to continue to see more practices like MacArthur flock to Facebook and Twitter.
[...] are choosing to go at this time: Facebook and Twitter. The story was brought to my attention by a blog post from Spectrum Science, which looked favorably at the use of social media by doctors to connect with [...]