Christy Jones, Research Assistant for Dr. Gurdeep Parhar
Monday afternoon brought together a diverse group of medical education professionals at the CCME workshop: Remediation of Online Professionalism Issues: Towards a National Consensus.
The workshop group covered a wide range of topics, bringing up important issues currently facing medical professionals and learners. These issues ranged from determining when patient confidentiality has been breached to the surprisingly low percentage of students who actually know how to change their Facebook privacy settings.
Using case examples, Dr. Bryden from the University of Toronto, Dr. Niec from McMaster University and Drs. Anita and Gurdeep Parhar from the University of British Columbia demonstrated how a seemingly innocent situation can quickly turn inappropriate; the particular focus was how these situations are more frequently occurring with the use of social media. Keeping things light and entertaining, the workshop kicked off with a role-play scenario with Dr. Gurdeep Parhar portraying a stressed out medical student who had breached patient confidentiality. With Dr. Anita Parhar playing the role of the faculty member in charge of determining the appropriate follow-up for this situation, the workshop audience was given a comical representation of how learner remediation is currently being confronted.
Workshop participants were encouraged to look at remediation from a different perspective, using a 7-step framework as well as a new paradigm for considering the motives of learners. In working through the framework with each of the different cases, groups often commented that there was a need for more details, as this can often change the context of the situation. A slightly altered context may change the plan for remediation altogether. One group noted that their first reaction to a particular case changed drastically after considering the steps of the framework, showing how a situation with a seemingly simple solution may actually have multiple layers.
One important question is: what motivates a student to post a Facebook status or blog about a situation they encountered? Current medical students who participated in the workshop gave valuable insight into this, explaining the learner’s need for follow-up discussion after an incident takes place. Groups suggested that, while traditionally learners may have written in a journal or diary, with the transition into the digital age, a more convenient form of journaling lies within online blogs, Facebook and Twitter. This convenience makes it much easier for learners to share what is on their mind and allows less time to consider whether the message they are sending is appropriate. With this said, it is important to be aware of the fine line between remediating unprofessional conduct and restricting freedom of speech.
With the large amount of discussion it is obvious that online professionalism is a hot topic and one that has attracted much attention among the medical community. Overall Monday’s workshop was successful in presenting a framework for remediation, demonstrating a range of situations in which learners may use social media and, most importantly sparking valuable discussion around online professionalism and remediation.
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