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Without rules and best practices, healthcare would be much more brutal. Witchcraft, home remedies, and imagine your dad saying, “Don’t worry kid, we can put it back on.” Regulations and guidelines allow us to work safely, word game. Social media guidelines for healthcare professionals serve a similar purpose.
This blog will guide you through generally accepted social media guidelines in healthcare. We’ll explain why they’re important and consider what to include if you’re making your own.
Plus, we have a bonus template and some examples that you can shamelessly copy. Let’s wash!
Social media guidelines in healthcare are institution-specific rules on how healthcare professionals should manage themselves and the organization they represent online.
Social media guidelines in healthcare can be stricter than guidelines in other industries. This is because of the additional accountability healthcare professionals have to the public.
While working in healthcare, you are responsible for complying with certain oaths, laws and ethical standards. The guidelines help you and your employer avoid behavior that could make you liable for licensing or legal issues.
These guidelines are different from social media policies or social media style guides.
A social media policy details how the company should be portrayed on social media platforms. It helps protect an organization from legal risks. It is also important to protect the reputation of the brand.
A social media style guide is a set of rules that determine how your brand will appear on social media. These cover things like your brand’s voice, visuals, and personality.
Content creators and marketers love style guides. They’re the best way to ensure your content is cohesive, consistent, and brand-friendly.
TL;DR:
- Social media guidelines include things like tips, tools, and best practices.
- Social media policies cover rules and reflections.
- Social media style guides define how to sound and be seen for the brand.
Hip, hip, HIPAA, hooray! This sums it up. Social media guidelines help you stay compliant with policies like HIPPA.
(HIPAA, FYI, stands for the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996. This is a federal law designed to prevent the disclosure of private health information without the specific consent of the patient.)
Surfing social media can be difficult while working in healthcare. That’s why it helps to have guidelines and clear instructions on how to stay compliant. Guidelines give your team the tools they need to talk about your brand and industry in a positive, inclusive, and respectful way.
Social media guidelines can also help you:
- Protect patient privacy. This is critical to maintaining HIPAA compliance.
- Avoid ethical issues. These include issues such as inappropriate behavior, conflicts of interest, and border violations.
- Build professional relationships. When your team follows best practices, other professionals want to collaborate with you.
- Enhance patient education. You can use social media to share general information about health and wellness. Guidelines help ensure that the information provided is accurate and evidence-based.
- Reduce liability risk. Your social media policy will do most of the heavy lifting here. Still, guidelines can help you ensure that your team’s behavior doesn’t put you at risk.
- Improve brand reputation. The guidelines will help you build a positive online presence when social networking. This can attract new patients, improve your reputation, and increase public trust. Win, win, win!
Dermatologist Chris Tomassian uses social media for general health advice, not medical advice.
there are several fields absolute covers when creating your directives. Be sure to tailor your rules to your company’s needs when considering what works for your team.
If you need help getting started, use some of the components below as a starting point.
Psstt: Don’t want to do the first draft on your own? You can also jump right into our template!
Branded accounts or hashtags
If your institution uses company accounts or hashtags, list them here for your team. This list is especially useful if your brand has been targeted by fake social media accounts.
Do’s and Don’ts
Provide a brief overview of what to expect and what to avoid.
Need samples? Try “SHARE company social media posts, events and stories” or “DO NOT work inappropriately with competitors”.
Disclosure guidelines
Consider work-related content your team is encouraged or not encouraged to post. If you want your employees to separate their personal and work accounts, now is the time to let them know.
Employee advocates are a great way to expand your organic reach. We encourage them to share information that will reflect well on your organization.
Confidentiality, compliance and privacy
Patient privacy and confidentiality should be one of your top concerns when using social media.
This section may contain guidelines for protecting patient information. You can also use this area to remind staff to never use a patient’s confidential information to find them online.
Accuracy and reliability
Evidence-based information and resources are essential when working in healthcare. Remind your team to keep this in mind when sharing health-related content on social media.
This section may contain suggested references or guidelines for verifying and citing information.
Professionalism
Outline expectations for professional behavior on social media. These may include guidelines for appropriate and inclusive language, style and behavior.
This section may also contain information regarding potential conflicts of interest.
Security
Cyber security poses a threat to all institutions and individuals. Being aware of this is particularly important in the healthcare industry.
Distribution of cyber attacks across industries in 2022. https://t.co/38w7TZnq2g #cyber security #cyber #security #cyber attack #cyber crime #data #spherical #industries #producing #finance #energy #retail #education #health care #state #public transport #media #technology pic.twitter.com/aMtPJUJSF7
— Cyber Business Center (@CyberJobCentral) April 28, 2023
Outline best practices for keeping your team and company safe. These can include tips like using strong passwords and two-factor authentication.
Compliance with legal and regulatory requirements
Make sure your social media guidelines comply with relevant legal and regulatory requirements. These include HIPAA, FDA advertising and promotion regulations, and state health board guidelines.
If you have a healthcare social media policy in place, include a link here.
Community guidelines and response management
Create protocols to respond to comments, messages, and other interactions on social media. This may include guidelines for handling negative feedback or addressing misinformation. If you have community guidelines, be sure to include a link.
Educational resources
Provide links to social media education and training for healthcare professionals. Include guidance on how to use social media for patient engagement and education.
Psst: If you are looking for training for yourself, we can help. Check out our course on Implementing Social Media Governance in Your Organization.
Contact information
Provide the name and number of your social media contact point. Make sure employees know they can reach you with any questions or comments.
Social media guidelines for healthcare professionals template
We took all of the above components and created a simple plug and play template for you to use.
After you download the template, you can customize the guidelines to reflect your brand, team, and audience.
If you’re curious about what other people in the healthcare industry are doing on social media, check out the examples below.
AMA Journal of Ethics
Professional Guidelines for Using Social Media: Starting Point is a great resource. The article contains tons of useful, well researched and relevant information.
While navigating, be sure to pay attention to: Table 1. Online Medical Professionalism: Issues Raised by the ACP-FSMB Guidelines.
Source: AMA Journal of Ethics
College of Physicians and Surgeons in British Columbia (CPSBC)
CPSBC provides concise social media guidelines. It clearly states the university’s position on social media and includes resources at the bottom of the two-page PDF.
Bonus points for the CPSBC Social Media Guidelines for being short and sweet (unlike the acronym).
Source: CPSBC
Nova Scotia College of Physicians and Surgeons (CPSNS)
CPSNS has social media guidelines specific to physician use. Good for them as they are granular.
One thing we love about Physicians’ Use of Social Media – Standards and Guidelines? Provides clear examples of inappropriate behavior from real reported cases. This gives the reader a definite idea of what not to do.
Plus, some stories are pretty spicy doctor-goss! Pour that tea, CPSNS.
Source: CPSNS
HCA Health
HCA Healthcare’s Social Media Guidelines clarify company-approved social media use.
The document outlines the appropriate and inappropriate use of social media for HCA Healthcare. They are very clear that they do not want to violate individual rights.
Source: HCA Health
British Columbia Government
Other regulated organizations can also be a great source of inspiration. For example, the BC Government has publicly posted its social media guidelines on its website.
These instructions are formatted as questions that make them easy to navigate. “Which social media tools does the state currently use?” You can quickly find answers to questions such as: and “Will being a civil servant affect my personal use of social media?”
Doctors, healthcare providers, and life science companies around the world use Moyens I/O to improve customer experiences, unify their social messages, and ensure compliance with industry regulations. See for yourself why we are the healthcare industry’s leading social media management platform!
