Medical students, doctors, and Facebook

[TheBoneDoctah]

I have been recently accepted into a medical school. I was wondering what the "protocol" is for social media. For example, is it acceptable to have photos on my Facebook of me at parties, holding red cups, or to have alcohol in the photo? My profile photo is of my fiancé and me in our engagement session. Most of my photos are NOT from parties or anything of that sort. I have maybe ten photos with "party" material, but nothing crazy. I just don't want faculty and professions to look down upon it.


I am trying to find out if this is considered unprofessional or not.

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[xffan624]

So I have been recently accepted into a medical school. I was wondering what the "protocol" is for social media. For example, is it acceptable to have photos on my Facebook of me at parties, holding red cups, alcohol in the photo?

I am trying to find out if this is considered unprofessional or not.

Make your page only viewable by friends. Also don't post anything too crazy on the page, but a picture of you with an alcoholic drink is not going to sink your professional career. Make your profile picture something tasteful as that can be viewed by anyone who googles you.

 

[TheBoneDoctah]

Make your page only viewable by friends. Also don't post anything too crazy on the page, but a picture of you with an alcoholic drink is not going to sink your professional career. Make your profile picture something tasteful as that can be viewed by anyone who googles you.

This is what I believe as well. My profile photo is of my fiancé and I in our engagement session. Most of my photos are NOT from parties or anything of that sort. I have maybe ten photos with "party" material, but nothing crazy. I just don't want faculty and professions to look down upon it.

 

[karayaa]

I have been recently accepted into a medical school. I was wondering what the "protocol" is for social media. For example, is it acceptable to have photos on my Facebook of me at parties, holding red cups, or to have alcohol in the photo? My profile photo is of my fiancé and me in our engagement session. Most of my photos are NOT from parties or anything of that sort. I have maybe ten photos with "party" material, but nothing crazy. I just don't want faculty and professions to look down upon it.


I am trying to find out if this is considered unprofessional or not.

Haha, I always laughed when I heard about how med schools are teaching students about social media professionalism, but I guess it is important after all. 👍

Make your page only viewable by friends. Also don't post anything too crazy on the page, but a picture of you with an alcoholic drink is not going to sink your professional career. Make your profile picture something tasteful as that can be viewed by anyone who googles you.

good advice.

Lots of patients google their doctors.

KevinMD has lots of discussions on this kind of stuff.

 

[MrLogan13]

Make your page private. Even then, you don't want to be posting those types of photos; you never know how those things can come back to bite you.

 

[TheBoneDoctah]

Make your page private. Even then, you don't want to be posting those types of photos; you never know how those things can come back to bite you.

But what are "those types" of photos? Where is the line drawn?

 

[jb94mg]

But what are "those types" of photos? Where is the line drawn?

Act like your grandmother is the intended audience.

 

[Lysinee]

There is an option on FB where your profile can't be searched on Google.

 

[WillburCobb]

 

[MrLogan13]

But what are "those types" of photos? Where is the line drawn?

Drinking, partying, and clubbing don't convey a professional image, do they? If you ever become prominent, can these photos be used to tarnish your public reputation? You hear on the news about people being fired or losing out on a position because of photos that don't portray them in the best light.

 

[LChristmas]

I've made my profile viewable to friends only and untagged myself from "those types" of photos. I've also adjusted my settings so that I have to approve all tags and photos before they appear on my page. Beyond that, I can't really think of what else could be done besides deleting it completely, which I don't want to do, and I'm assuming most others don't either.

 

[TeddyBoomBoom]

Don't worry too much. Unless you come off as a complete f-**** on your page, you should be fine. People (yes... even doctors) do out for drinks, dress up for Halloween, go on vacations, etc. On other hand, use common sense. Do not post inflammatory material unless you reeeaaally think it's a good idea.

 

[mimelim]

1. Virtually all residents that I know have a facebook account. Most visit it less than once a month, but some are fairly active. It is completely normal for working professionals to have social media.
2. You should have your privacy settings on their max. Facebook keeps changing their settings so it is somewhat of an active process, but it is what it is.
3. You should actively remove any and all photos and posts related to anything illegal (obviously), but also partying, alcohol consumption, sex, etc. Things get out. Privacy settings go wonky. There is nothing inherently wrong with any of those things (except the illegal stuff), but it can really hurt you down the road. I've seen it happen to people around me. Contracts revoked, applications denied, etc etc. Don't make it an issue!

 

[dorian baltar]

But what are "those types" of photos? Where is the line drawn?

If you have to ask, don't post it.

 

[alpinism]

Don't worry too much. Unless you come off as a complete f-**** on your page, you should be fine. People (yes... even doctors) do out for drinks, dress up for Halloween, go on vacations, etc. On other hand, use common sense. Do not post inflammatory material unless you reeeaaally think it's a good idea.

This.

No one cares about you having pictures from parties or that include drinks (assuming you're over 21) as long as they're in good taste.

What gets people into trouble is if these pictures include illegal activities or inappropriate and graphic material.

A group picture with friends holding red cups is fine.

A group picture with friends wearing "f**k Michigan t shirts" and "giving the shocker" while holding red cups, not so much.

 

[TheBoneDoctah]

This.

No one cares about you having pictures from parties or that include drinks (assuming you're over 21) as long as they're in good taste.

What gets people into trouble is if these pictures include illegal activities or inappropriate and graphic material.

A group picture with friends holding red cups is fine.

A group picture with friends wearing "f**k Michigan t shirts" and "giving the shocker" while holding red cups, not so much.

Damn, guess I have to remove all my shocker pics.... LOL JK

 

[Pacna]

I have been recently accepted into a medical school. I was wondering what the "protocol" is for social media. For example, is it acceptable to have photos on my Facebook of me at parties, holding red cups, or to have alcohol in the photo? My profile photo is of my fiancé and me in our engagement session. Most of my photos are NOT from parties or anything of that sort. I have maybe ten photos with "party" material, but nothing crazy. I just don't want faculty and professions to look down upon it.


I am trying to find out if this is considered unprofessional or not.

Not going to lie, when I get my interviewee assignment, I immediately check their Facebook page out of curiosity. I form a tentative first impression. This is before I read AMCAS or any of that. Then again, I'm much younger than the average interviewer, so perhaps this isn't so common.

Personally, I wouldn't care if I saw you hitting a bong on there, but I'll give the same advice as with colored hair/strange piercings/new styles/etc: If someone might care, go with safe.

 

[gyngyn]

Your "friends" can and will send your Facebook screen shots to administration if they breach the code of conduct at your school.

 

[TheBoneDoctah]

Your "friends" can and will send your Facebook screen shots to administration if they breach the code of conduct at your school.

What I'm trying to ask is if holding a red cup or a beer is "bad. "

I'm not smoking bongs, shooting up heroine, and creating ruckus haha

 

[mvenus929]

What I'm trying to ask is if holding a red cup or a beer is "bad. "

I'm not smoking bongs, shooting up heroine, and creating ruckus haha

No, holding a red cup is not bad. That question has already been answered. It's what else is going on in the photo that has the potential to make it bad. You are not a bad person for drinking, but you may present less than a professional image if you have a picture of you taking body shots, stripping, obviously drunk, etc, on your facebook page.

 

[gyngyn]

What I'm trying to ask is if holding a red cup or a beer is "bad. "

I'm not smoking bongs, shooting up heroine, and creating ruckus haha

I'm referring to intolerant rants against people in protected categories, for example.

 

[Lysinee]

Your "friends" can and will send your Facebook screen shots to administration if they breach the code of conduct at your school.

Do the snitches get some type of reward for calling out their friends? More respect from the Dean's office, brownie points, etc?

 

[gyngyn]

Do the snitches get some type of reward for calling out their friends? More respect from the Dean's office, brownie points, etc?

No. They get the respect of their peers for identifying toxic elements in their learning environment.

 

[CherryRedDracul]

No. They get the respect of their peers for identifying toxic elements in their learning environment.

Or the satisfaction of knocking out some of their competition. #onelesspotentialapplicantforENT

 

[TeddyMeddy]

.

 

[Ismet]

Don't use facebook to interact with your colleagues. Just form a privacy barrier...make yourself unsearchable. Only add someone from work if you're really close and can trust that that you can post without censoring yourself. It's not a networking application, it's something for your personal life to say what you want. Use Linkedin if you want to use a social network to connect professionally, but in medicine, I don't even think it's really necessary to do that. I think it's pretty lame to have to "project an image" on some web application...who cares? Just keep it for yourself.


Privacy settings can get confusing so I'd just play it safe...just keep it separate. You'll see your classmates enough off of facebook, keep it to connect with people from back home and friends you knew from back in the day.

Personal Life
Professional Life

^Keep them separate

There's nothing wrong with interacting with classmates via Facebook. Our class Facebook page was pretty invaluable during pre-clinical when people would share study guides and other helpful things. Also a lot of social events are advertised on FB. Especially when most of the class doesn't go to lecture, or now in 3rd year where everyone is doing different things.

You can mix personal and professional life without hurting either of them.

 

[fancymylotus]

I deactivated Facebook. I have Instagram, but I usually post pretty harmless stuff on there- pix of shoes, myself, the dog, the boy, etc. Nothing inappropriate, and nothing(I dont think) with any location tags on it.

I'm done with people knowing where I am, what I'm doing, making silly comments, patients trying to friend me, and gossipy relatives.

 

[fancymylotus]

http://www.jsurged.org/article/S1931-7204(14)00159-7/abstract

I was at this talk at the annual surgery education meeting last year. They posted a bunch of example pictures, which I guarantee most of the posters on this thread would think were tame or routine. The program directors that I talked to after the presentation were shocked by the pics. Several of them, who had previously not used Facebook when screening applicants, expressed their intent to do so in the future.

-Max your privacy.
-Scrub your photos.
-Act like everything you post will be read by every boss you currently have or may ever have in the future.
-Remember that what you post on the internet is for all intents and purposes there forever.

My boss somehow read some of my FB stuff and I had to hear about it for WEEKS.....


..I thought blocking him would stop him from being able to be nosy but nope! ><

 

[TeddyMeddy]

.

 

[litotes]

No. They get the respect of their peers for identifying toxic elements in their learning environment.

jesus christ if med students respect those who snitch on other med students' facebook lives I don't think I wanna go to med school

 

[CherryRedDracul]

jesus christ if med students respect those who snitch on other med students' facebook lives I don't think I wanna go to med school

At my school, if you were found out to have snitched, or in general made any med student's life harder, word would get around and you would be ostracized.

 

[HopesandDreams]

Damn, guess I have to remove all my shocker pics.... LOL JK

I present to you... the epic ortho resident
http://forums.studentdoctor.net/threads/epic-ortho-resident.943593/

 

[gyngyn]

jesus christ if med students respect those who snitch on other med students' facebook lives I don't think I wanna go to med school

Angry, misogynistic, racist homophobic rants that disgrace the school and the profession have no place in medicine. If unable to maintain honorable behavior, one would be correct in pursuing another field.