Professionalism and social media in healthcare: Inter-professional perspectives of what we need to teach and how we should do this

Background: Most students in healthcare professions including dentistry use social media; training is recommended to reduce the professional and personal risks involved. Aims & Objectives: Explore staff and students’ perceptions of students’ social media training needs. Materials & Methods: A purposive sample of staff and students (n=13) were recruited for the study. Students from healthcare disciplines were recruited through the student union. Staff involved in teaching professionalism or managing fitness to practice cases were recruited via staff networks. Semi-structured qualitative one-to-one interviews were carried out using an interview guide. Data were audio recorded and then transcribed. Sampling, data collection and analysis were conducted in parallel. A thematic approach was used for analysis. Data collection completed when no new themes emerged. Results: Students n=8 and staff n=5 participated in the study. Staff and students felt the link between social media and fitness to practice should be included in training. Students were most concerned about professional behaviour in the ‘here and now’ and strategies for dealing with other people’s behaviour (e.g. friends posting images of them). Staff said that content should include regulatory guidance, managing personal profiles in the longer term, potential for serious professional issues (e.g. alcohol or drug images) and the impact on professional careers. Both were concerned about social media posts and agreed that students needed to develop an awareness of the permanence of posts, privacy settings and where to draw the line on professionalism. Staff preferred delivery in small group seminars to aide learning but students preferred learning in lectures, as this was more anonymous. Conclusions: Social media training is considered important. Fitness to practice, strategies for managing personal profiles, identifying where to draw the line and managing potential issues should be considered within inter-professional teaching. Approaches for optimal learning and engagement need further investigation as staff and students have divergent views on the best approaches