Doctors and social media: knowledge gaps and unsafe practices.

INTRODUCTION: Easy access and availability of communication tools has facilitated doctors' communication, adding challenges. We aimed to determine the profile of the knowledge and practices of doctors in our institution, and to identify knowledge gaps in the use of social media accounts. METHODS: An anonymous survey was sent out by electronic mail from March to May 2018 to 931 doctors working in National University Hospital, Singapore. It included questions on demographics, use of social media, and case-based scenarios involving professionalism, patient-doctor relationship and personal practices of social media use. RESULTS: The response rate was 13%. The majority owned a social media account (93%), did not receive education on social media use in medical school (84%), did not own a separate work phone (80%), and claimed to have no medical education on this as a doctor (59%). Unawareness of the institution's social media policy was reported by 14%. Incorrect answers were given for questions on knowledge of the privacy settings of their account. Only 75%-82% responded 'no' when asked if they would post pictures of patients or their results, even if there were no patient identifiers. CONCLUSION: Knowledge of institutional social media policy and privacy settings of social media accounts is inadequate among doctors. Regarding practices in social media use, while most agree that caution should be exercised for online posts involving patients, ambiguity still exists. The emerging knowledge deficit and potentially unsafe practices that are identified can be addressed through continuing medical education and training on social media use.