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Letters to the Editor
child’s ‘blue book’ or checking the ACIR. If a patient is found to be inadequately immunized, then the immunization nurse will arrange a catch-up schedule. This will help to ensure that all burns patients are protected against the risk of developing tetanus and improve the standard of care at the WCH. Dr Nicholas S Solanki Dr Sarah Middleton Ms Linda Quinn Mr Anthony Sparnon Burns Service, Department of Surgery Women’s and Children’s Hospital North Adelaide, South Australia Australia
References 1 Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation. The Australian Immunisation Handbook, 10th edn. Canberra: Australian Government Department of Health, 2013. Available from:: http://www.health.gov .au/internet/immunise/publishing.nsf/Content/Handbook10 -home [accessed June 2013]. Part 4.19. 2 Australian Childhood Immunisation Register Statistics. Available from: http://www.medicareaustralia.gov.au/provider/patients/ acir/statistics.jsp [accessed April 2013].
questions about our options and responsibilities when patients write about doctors on social media, particularly negative feedback written without the doctor’s prior knowledge or consent. Institutions may have a public relations unit for assistance, but private practitioners are much more isolated. Much of the discussion about social media focuses heavily on the risks. I think it is worth asking though, is social media so different to a better MRI machine or a new ventilator? It is all just technology, helpful and unhelpful only to the extent that it helps us achieve our goals. In an essay in which she reviews the movie The Social Network and a book by Jaron Lanier called You are not a Gadget: a manifesto, Zadie Smith, author of White Teeth, raises the point that all software (and therefore all online interaction) is constrained by the limitations of the programmer. Users are often unaware of this; barely anyone notices that Facebook is all in blue because Mark Zuckerberg is red–green colour blind.2 Clinicians are very familiar with balancing usefulness and risk with new interventions for the benefit of our patients yet have generally seemed uncomfortable adopting online services the same way we would a new asthma medication (with some exceptions). A 2013 review of the use of social media use by 935 Australian hospitals demonstrated that few public hospitals use social media to actively engage patients and commented that even simple online services are lacking; for example, few hospitals have a campus map easily accessible on their website.3 In our discussions about the risks of social media, we may be missing the many opportunities (and even perhaps obligations) for health services and clinicians to help patients as well.
Dear Editor, Dr Chris Elliot General Paediatrican St George Hospital Kogarah, New South Wales Australia
SOCIAL MEDIA IN MEDICINE Your editorial addresses the important point of patient privacy.1 The widespread adoption of social media also raises other relevant issues: the privacy of health professionals ourselves, the risks and benefits of accessing our patient’s own social media and the possibility of new obligations. When patients’ reflections on their own health are publically available online, some might argue that reading them can help clinicians better understand that patient’s circumstances. Others, myself included, could contend that circumventing one-on-one communication with our patients in this way risks corrupting the doctor–patient relationship. There are still many unanswered
References 1 Isaacs D. Social media and communication. J. Paed. Child Health 2014; 50: 421–2. 2 Smith Z. Generation Why? New York Review of Books 2010. Available from: http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2010/nov/25/ generation-why/?pagination=false [accessed January 2014]. 3 Cadogan M. Aussie hospital social media 2012. Life Fast Lane 2012. Available from: http://lifeinthefastlane.com/aussie-hospital-social -media-2012/ [accessed January 2014].
Conflict of interest: None declared.
496
Journal of Paediatrics and Child Health 50 (2014) 494–496 © 2014 The Authors Journal of Paediatrics and Child Health © 2014 Paediatrics and Child Health Division (Royal Australasian College of Physicians)
Letters to the Editor
child’s ‘blue book’ or checking the ACIR. If a patient is found to be inadequately immunized, then the immunization nurse will arrange a catch-up schedule. This will help to ensure that all burns patients are protected against the risk of developing tetanus and improve the standard of care at the WCH. Dr Nicholas S Solanki Dr Sarah Middleton Ms Linda Quinn Mr Anthony Sparnon Burns Service, Department of Surgery Women’s and Children’s Hospital North Adelaide, South Australia Australia
References 1 Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation. The Australian Immunisation Handbook, 10th edn. Canberra: Australian Government Department of Health, 2013. Available from:: http://www.health.gov .au/internet/immunise/publishing.nsf/Content/Handbook10 -home [accessed June 2013]. Part 4.19. 2 Australian Childhood Immunisation Register Statistics. Available from: http://www.medicareaustralia.gov.au/provider/patients/ acir/statistics.jsp [accessed April 2013].
questions about our options and responsibilities when patients write about doctors on social media, particularly negative feedback written without the doctor’s prior knowledge or consent. Institutions may have a public relations unit for assistance, but private practitioners are much more isolated. Much of the discussion about social media focuses heavily on the risks. I think it is worth asking though, is social media so different to a better MRI machine or a new ventilator? It is all just technology, helpful and unhelpful only to the extent that it helps us achieve our goals. In an essay in which she reviews the movie The Social Network and a book by Jaron Lanier called You are not a Gadget: a manifesto, Zadie Smith, author of White Teeth, raises the point that all software (and therefore all online interaction) is constrained by the limitations of the programmer. Users are often unaware of this; barely anyone notices that Facebook is all in blue because Mark Zuckerberg is red–green colour blind.2 Clinicians are very familiar with balancing usefulness and risk with new interventions for the benefit of our patients yet have generally seemed uncomfortable adopting online services the same way we would a new asthma medication (with some exceptions). A 2013 review of the use of social media use by 935 Australian hospitals demonstrated that few public hospitals use social media to actively engage patients and commented that even simple online services are lacking; for example, few hospitals have a campus map easily accessible on their website.3 In our discussions about the risks of social media, we may be missing the many opportunities (and even perhaps obligations) for health services and clinicians to help patients as well.
Dear Editor, Dr Chris Elliot General Paediatrican St George Hospital Kogarah, New South Wales Australia
SOCIAL MEDIA IN MEDICINE Your editorial addresses the important point of patient privacy.1 The widespread adoption of social media also raises other relevant issues: the privacy of health professionals ourselves, the risks and benefits of accessing our patient’s own social media and the possibility of new obligations. When patients’ reflections on their own health are publically available online, some might argue that reading them can help clinicians better understand that patient’s circumstances. Others, myself included, could contend that circumventing one-on-one communication with our patients in this way risks corrupting the doctor–patient relationship. There are still many unanswered
References 1 Isaacs D. Social media and communication. J. Paed. Child Health 2014; 50: 421–2. 2 Smith Z. Generation Why? New York Review of Books 2010. Available from: http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2010/nov/25/ generation-why/?pagination=false [accessed January 2014]. 3 Cadogan M. Aussie hospital social media 2012. Life Fast Lane 2012. Available from: http://lifeinthefastlane.com/aussie-hospital-social -media-2012/ [accessed January 2014].
Conflict of interest: None declared.
496
Journal of Paediatrics and Child Health 50 (2014) 494–496 © 2014 The Authors Journal of Paediatrics and Child Health © 2014 Paediatrics and Child Health Division (Royal Australasian College of Physicians)
