Page 30 - Part 1 Navigating Electronic Media in a Healthcare Setting

SVMIC Navigating Electronic Media in a Healthcare Setting

have been uploaded by other users. Two additional tools used for

communicating online are podcasts and wikis. Podcasts are
individual files with prerecorded (audio or video) content, and

wikis are websites that allow for the easy creation and editing of
interlinked web pages via a web browser and are often used to

create collaborative websites.

The internet and tools such as social networking sites and blogs
provide a means for communication that is faster and farther

reaching than other media; these tools also create searchable,
enduring (often permanent) records of exchanges. However, the

internet simultaneously fosters disinhibition and feelings of

anonymity and invisibility, which can promote either bad behavior
or behavior that an individual would not engage in offline. The

relative anonymity provided by the internet can also lull users into
a false sense of security. A user may feel like he or she is

distributing information in a private realm, such as his bedroom;

but, he is actually posting in a manner that puts his actions and
opinions on his front lawn for everyone to see.

Actions taken online may affect physicians’ reputations among
their colleagues and their patients and may also affect the public’s

vision of and trust in the medical profession. Whereas in the past a

provider may have been concerned about a conversation being
overheard in a hallway by a few people, providers now face the

reality that a post on a social networking site may reach millions of
people within a matter of seconds. The new environment opens

opportunities for a variety of challenging scenarios, such as a blog

post about a difficult patient to which the patient’s family member
has access, or a medical resident who asks a patient for a date

after he learns she is single via a social networking site.

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