Unprofessional behaviors in the use of social media by medical students and healthcare professionals

2017 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 26860348
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Young Scientists (B)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Research Field: Medical sociology
• Research Institution: Fukushima Medical University
• Principal Investigator: Moroi Yoko 福島県立医科大学, 医学部, 助手 (20443872)
• Co-Investigator(Renkei-kenkyūsha): ISHIKAWA Kazunobu 国際医療福祉大学, 医学部, 教授 (80222959) ; KOBAYASHI Gen 国際医療福祉大学, 医学部, 講師 (20423791) ; SUGAWARA Akiko 福島県立医科大学, 医学部, 助教 (40566808)
• Project Period (FY): 2014-04-01 – 2018-03-31
• Keywords: 倫理教育 / インターネット / ソーシャルメディア / チェックリスト / SNS / ICT / モラルハザード

Outline of Final Research Achievements

Smartphones, social networks, blogs, and other forms of online communication have created the ability for medical students and healthcare professionals to communicate and share information quickly with a large group of people. However, unprofessional behaviors such as violating the confidentiality of patients’ personal information seems to be increasing.
We searched for news of unprofessional online behaviors by medical/nursing students and healthcare professionals in Japan for these 10 years via keyword search on the Internet. A combination of patient privacy violations and profanity was observed in many cases, and it is assumed that such actions were made to share feelings of disgust or anger toward patients through social media. The development of ethical education programs regarding the use of social media is essential for both students and healthcare professionals, in order to prevent a variety of future acts of unprofessional behaviors.

Free Research Field

プロフェッショナリズム