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I had always maintained that doctors should not discuss cases openly in social media, especially in Facebook etc. I use to see many of such post which I had never contributed. I did write about this before. When I first started this blog in 2010, there were many students and junior doctors who asked me why I am not using this blog to educate the doctors on interesting cases etc. While I do give talks during CME sessions in JB and had also been Johor MMA CME Chairman for 2 years (2013-2015), I had always felt that social media is never a good platform. In this blog I had only given some examples of common mistakes by junior doctors who could lead to major complications to patients. I had also used some examples to show how doctor’s life is not as easy as what the public assumes. But I had never used this blog to discuss cases openly or posted any pictures of patients.

Case discussion should only be for medical personals. Even though we do not mention any names or details, it is open for public viewing and as such, the patient can sue you if he/she had not given consent. This is more so for pictures or videos. The popularity of WhatsApp, BBM and Telegram had further contributed to this. Doctors are now sending patient’s particulars, history and pictures to other doctors for discussion purposes. Of course it is a quick way of getting help from consultants etc but these pictures should never reveal any of the patient’s information or the patient’s face.

Finally, MOH had produced a guideline on the use of social media among medical personals. The Guideline, released on 31/03/2016 clearly says that Facebook, Instagram, Blogs, Twitter and You Tube are banned from being used as medium of discussion. You can view the guideline here :Pekeliling Media sosial. The Star had also reported on this issue.

Unfortunately, this guideline does not prevent the patients from making remarks or comments on doctors/hospitals in social media. We see a lot of such comments in Facebook etc. In fact, I have had patients in my hospital threatening the hospital management by saying that they will viral the issue on social media! But as doctors, bound my MMC’s professional and ethical conduct, we just have to keep quiet and do our work to help people…………… Any emotional rant will lead to MMC’s disciplinary enquiry!

Doctor’s life never gets any easier…………………..

‘Don’t discuss patients online’

BY SARBAN SINGH

SEREMBAN: Social media may be the “in” thing for Malaysians nowadays to post instant alerts but not for doctors.

Doctors in government service have been told not to discuss their patients’ medical issues on social media such as Facebook, Twitter or Instagram to prevent breaches in confidentiality.

Neither should they carry out clinical consultations on these platforms where such information could be accessed by other people, said Health Ministry director-general Datuk Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah.

The order came about to minimise the risk of ethical and legal complications and to uphold the integrity of the medical profession, he said in a circular.

“Social media sites cannot guarantee confidentiality with whatever privacy settings currently in place.

“Once information is published online, it can be difficult to remove it as others may have already distributed it further, thus easily breaching patient confidentiality,” he said.

He explained that the directive came about as more health care providers were using social media in their work.

However, Dr Noor Hisham said doctors could set up a social media platform for group consultation provided there was a “moderator” and there was a profile of the members and where the content of the conversation was not accessible to public.

“However, the uploading and transmitting of still images or in video format should not include any information which could reveal the patient’s identity,” he said.

Doctors in such group consultation must also get written consent from their patients before uploading any information about them on social media.

“The only exception would be in an emergency where the patient may not be able to give consent,” he said, adding that doctors were responsible for the confidentiality of any information they send out via social media.

Dr Noor Hisham said doctors were also duty-bound to delete all stored information of their patients in their mobile devices after the completion of the consultation.

All personal information or images from any consultation could not even be used for the purpose of health education to others.

“Social media platforms cannot be used for referral cases as they include patient-identifiable information,” he said.

Despite the advantages of social media, Dr Noor Hisham said doctors should always opt for direct consultation or over the telephone whenever possible.

In cases of emergencies, he said doctors or other healthcare providers were supposed to consult their peers over the telephone first before opting for the social media.

Pekeliling Media sosial