Perceptions of Unprofessional Social Media Behavior Among Emergency Medicine Physicians

ABSTRACT Background  Use of social media (SM) by physicians has exposed issues of privacy and professionalism. While guidelines have been created for SM use, details regarding specific SM behaviors that could lead to disciplinary action presently do not exist. Objective  To compare State Medical Board (SMB) directors' perceptions of investigation for specific SM behaviors with those of emergency medicine (EM) physicians. Methods  A multicenter anonymous survey was administered to physicians at 3 academic EM residency programs. Surveys consisted of case vignettes, asking, “If the SMB were informed of the content, how likely would they be to initiate an investigation, possibly leading to disciplinary action?” (1, very unlikely, to 4, very likely). Results were compared to published probabilities using exact binomial testing. Results  Of 205 eligible physicians, 119 (58%) completed the survey. Compared to SMB directors, EM physicians indicated similar probabilities of investigation for themes involving ident...