Guidelines for Participating in Social Networks over
the Web
As in all professional fields, it is disapproved to interact with
patients outside of the office. Dentists should be wary if they choose to
interact with patients on personal networking sites such as Facebook. The only
interaction a dentist should have with a patient should be when discussing a
patient's dental treatment and that should never be done on social websites.
Social media can be a great tool for dentists to share experiences
or to discuss areas of medicine. There are a plethora of websites where dentists
can gather to discuss new technology or developments in medicine. These types of
networks can be extremely useful but it is important that dentists use the
utmost care when putting information on sites. It can be unclear as to who
exactly is on the other side of that computer and it is critical that
precautions are taken to ensure that the site is secure. Also, dentists should
only participate on sites that only allow verified and registered users to
access the information. Ignorance of that can lead to dentists gaining access
and viewing discussing as implying advice, which may be counter to the dentist's
actual intent in the discussion. A good way to evaluate whether the website is
secure is if it has a password so that non dentists cannot access the
information.
In conclusion, dentists should not communicate with patients
outside of the office and should take precautions to ensure websites are safe
when posting dental information or advice. However, if used correctly, the web
can be a great tool for knowledge.
Stuart J. Oberman, Esq. handles a wide range of legal
issues for the dental profession including practice sales, real estate
transactions, lease agreements, HIPAA and OSHA compliance, board complaints,
employment law, and entity formation. For questions or comments regarding this
article please call (770) 554-1400 or visit www.obermanlaw.com.