Social media platforms create new challenges for healthcare practitioners and other professionals who actively participate in online communities that have emerged on Facebook, Twitter and similar applications. While it's not unusual for those with chronic health issues and long term medical problems to build close relationships with care providers "in real life" - legal,... [read more]

Social media platforms create new challenges for healthcare practitioners and other professionals who actively participate in online communities that have emerged on Facebook, Twitter and similar applications. While it's not unusual for those with chronic health issues and long term medical problems to build close relationships with care providers "in real life" - legal, ethical and practical issues emerge when patients/clients seek to add care providers to online networks.

How, for example, should a pediatric nurse respond when a cancer patient's mom wants to become a Facebook "friend"? What parameters must be established now that these public conversations could become of an official medical record? What else is preventing medical staff and healthcare organizations from adopting social media?

Engage with panelists - patients and healthcare workers - who actively use social media and are articulate advocates for its benefits in the complex world of healthcare delivery. Panelists for this session have developed ways to establish appropriate boundaries without creating barriers to health education and empowerment.

Attendees will develop a more sophisticated awareness of privacy and engagement within online communities. They'll learn how those in the healthcare community have dealt with significant concerns and developed effective ways to resolve ethical conflicts, and will leave the session with a framework for addressing similar concerns within their own networks.