Healthcare Professionalism in the Age of Social Media Essay Example

Healthcare Professionalism in the Age of Social Media Essay James Nibert HCA 656 Extra Credit Assignment 12-01-10 Healthcare Professionalism in the Age of Social Media Introduction Social media, like the postal letter, telephone and e-mail before it, has revolutionized the ways in which people communicate in the modern world. Social networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube have hundreds of millions of users that have chosen this medium to communicate with the world at large. Blogs, Wikis and podcasts further contribute to the dominant communication tool of the modern world: social media. This new form of communication has been quickly adopted by professionals of all varieties, but it has specific implications for physicians and related healthcare professionals. As the ability of a physician to effectively perform their job, and for the patient to respect the physician’s advice, is dependent on the trust between them, at what point does the physician’s private life in terms of social media begin to affect his or her professional life? It is estimated that 59% of American adults searched for medical advice online in a 12 month period. Included in these searches were many reviews of a physician’s conduct and abilities (McKay, 2010). As this new form of communication becomes increasingly more common, medical professionals will need to take precautions to insulate themselves both legally and ethically, and to retain the trust of their patients that is vital to the effective functioning of their job. Methodology The methodology of this research paper was conducted in the most systematic way possible given the time and resource limitations of the project. We will write a custom essay sample on Healthcare Professionalism in the Age of Social Media specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on Healthcare Professionalism in the Age of Social Media specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on Healthcare Professionalism in the Age of Social Media specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer In should be noted that this particular field of study, while increasingly popular, is still very recent and thus limited in terms of depth and availability of appropriate sources. The search began initially with a search of Google using the phrases, â€Å"professionalism and online healthcare,† â€Å"Health 2. 0 and professionalism,† â€Å"ethics and online healthcare,† and â€Å"healthcare professionalism and social media. † The results of these searches produced several redundancies of the same useful articles. This was followed up with a search of EbscoHost and Academic Search Premiere using the phrases â€Å"healthcare and social media,† and â€Å"professionalism, healthcare and social media. † This resulted in the discovery of three additional articles. Finally, the search was aided by Dr. Alberto Coustasse who directed the search to several previously undiscovered articles. Discussion Maintaining a strict sense of professionalism is vital to many careers, but is essential to the duties of a physician. Doctors that have lost the respect or trust of those they treat can no longer perform their jobs to the best of their abilities. It has been previously demonstrated that social media has the ability to create a rapid reaction to a perceived problem. In 2008 the group Doctors for Obama mobilized thousands of physicians on Facebook to make their opinions and concerns about the new healthcare policy known, with the effect of having a demonstrable influence on the final legislation and an ongoing voice in President Obama’s healthcare agenda (Jain, 2009). A similar effect, though on a smaller scale, could be anticipated from a physician’s faux paus distributed widely through social media. A study conducted in 2008, focusing on the social networking site Facebook (by far the most popular social networking site in the U. S), showed that of medical students and residents of a selected sample group 44. 5% had a Facebook account and two-thirds of them kept their account public with â€Å" †¦ a significant portion having subjectively inappropriate content† (Thompson, et al. 008). Some examples drawn from a 2008 study including public Facebook groups created by medical students with titles such as â€Å"PIMP† (Party of Important Male Physicians), â€Å"Keep your fu***ing hand down and shut the f**k up during lecture† and â€Å"Physicians looking for trophy wives in training† (Thompson et al, 2008) The public profiles selected by this study disclosed physicians home postal address (6. 1% of the time), f ield of study (79. 6%), email address (83. %) and sexual orientation (52. 4%). While the impact of such information was not followed up on, at least to this date, by the study, it is easy to ascertain how such sensitive and personal information could lead to trouble for a physician whose public social networking profile angered a patient. In addition to the possible personal consequences at risk to a physician, unprofessional conduct on social networking sites could also have unintended professional and legal consequences as well. As stated, â€Å"Already the first lawsuits have been filed against physicians whom patients accused of violating the privacy of medical information acts, notes attorney Robert Coffield, a West Virginia- based specialist in health care compliance and regulatory law† (Hawn, 2009). A doctor who, for example, blogged about their trials in dealing with a difficult patient—in a way that would make such a client identifiable—and forgot that either the patient or a family member or friend had been added to their social network would be inviting litigation with possible monetary and professional penalties. In addition, physicians, even with the best of intentions, offering medical advice over social media platforms without a professional agreement are subject to litigation from numerous people. The importance of professionalism and the threat posed to it by the burgeoning social media outlets has been noticed and considered by professional organizations including the American Medical Association. In 2010 the AMA released an official policy on professionalism in the use of social media. It warns that, â€Å"Physicians should weigh a number of considerations when maintaining a presence online† (AMA, 2010). It is stated in line f of the policy that, â€Å"Physicians must recognize the actions online and content posted may negatively affect their reputations among patients and colleagues, may have consequences for their medical careers (particularly for physicians in training and medical students), and can undermine public trust in the medical profession† (AMA, 2010). To this end the AMA outlines a policy that encourages the use of privacy settings to safeguard personal information on social networking sites, be vigilant of observing and maintaining all patient privacy legislation and safeguard at all times the boundaries of the patient/client relationship while online. It further states that it is a physician’s responsibility to make colleagues aware of any objectionable material on their own profiles and to report illegal or unethical behavior to the proper authorities. Conclusion It must be noted that while physicians must certainly be entitled to the same freedoms and liberties that the rest of us enjoy, it is in both their personal and professional interest to maintain boundaries between these two segments in their lives. As an alternative there are social networking sites dedicated to only medical professionals such as Medscape. Like elected officials, law enforcement and school teachers; it is essential to the effective functioning of their duties for physicians to achieve and maintain both the professional distance and trust of those in their charge. Following the previously discussed AMA guidelines is an initial step towards achieving that goal and avoiding many unforeseen and unintended consequences. References McKay, L. (2010). A Prescription for Social Media. Retrieved November, 29 2010 from www. destinationCRM. com Thompson, L. , Dawson, K. , Ferdig, R. , Black, E. , Boyer, J. , Coutts, J. , Black, N. (2008) The Intersection of Online Social Networking with Medical Professionalism. Journal of General Internal Medicine, 23(7): 954-7. Jain, S. (2009) Practicing Medicine in the Age of Facebook. New England Journal of Medicine, 361(7) 649-651. Hawn, C. (2009) Take Two Aspirin and Tweet Me in the Morning: How Twitter, Facebook, And Other Social Media Are Reshaping Healthcare. Health Affairs, 28(2) 361-368. Chen, P. (2009) Medicine in the Age of Twitter. Retrieved November 29, 2010 from www. nytimes. com/2009/06/11/health/11chen. html American Medical Association. (2010) AMA Policy: Professionalism in the Use of Social Media. Retrieved December 1, 2010 from www. ama-assn. org/ama/pub/meeting/professionalism-social-media. html

What Dreams May Come Essays - What Dreams May Come, Free Essays

What Dreams May Come Essays - What Dreams May Come, Free Essays What Dreams May Come Many of us, people dont believe that there exists live after death. We think that this is not possible. People are just dying and they are living their bodies behind them, and leaving this world. Some of us believe in the reincarnation. We died, but we are born as a new human being. In the book What dreams may come there exist live after death- in heaven. The book tells about a men name Chris and his family. One day he was coming from the theater and three cars hit him, and he died. He woke up at the hospital. Before he died he heard the voices coming from a man. Those voices were saying to him to not fight . Then after a while he was dead. At first he didnt believe that this happened. When he saw his body lying on the hospital bed he knew that his journey in the world was finish. He didnt know what he was supposed to do. He was looking for his wife. He tried to find her and talk to her, but the only person that could see him or hear him was the person at the hospital that he couldnt recognize. He couldnt see exactly who the man was; he saw just his shadows. Chris was living his other live, live after death. He never knew that death is merely continuation at another level . After he died he realized that the life is not finish. The spirit lives just our bodies and it goes to heaven. Chris couldnt wait till his wife is going to join him. He believed that this would come soon, because he couldnt stop thinking about her. For everything in life theres a counterpart in afterlife Nothing can destroy the spirit. Chris was aware of that he went to the other side. He was patiently waiting for his wife. After some time he got the message from Albert that she is not going to join him, because he commit suicide. Suicide only participates a darker continuation of the some conditions from which escape was sought. A continuation under circumstances is so much more painful. He didnt want to believe that she is not coming there. The only way that they could be together was that he had to go to rescue her from that world. This was very hard to do, because many people tried to do it and they never came back. He got more luck, because he went there. The only problem that he had was that he couldnt find her. There was to many people that commit suicide. He was trying hard to find her and finally he did. He brought her memory back, because she didnt remember anything. Then they came back to the Summerland, and live happy ever after. There also exist the supernatural contact with spirits. In the book when Chris died his family was very sad. He went to his daughter room and he saw the letter that she was writing to her friend. She was telling about her parents and what they lived through. Chris tried to talk to her, without any respond. She couldnt hear anything, because she didnt knew that he was there. Chris didnt gave up and he was telling to her write Im still alive , he was repeating this all over and he made her write this note. She was very suprised when she saw this. At first she didnt knew what she suppose to do with this note, but then, she went to her mom trying to tell her that her father made her to write this note. When she enter the room, she saw her mother crying and she decided to not show her nothing. Then she decided that much happened and now was not good time to show it to her. She went back to her room, never telling her mother about that accident. After a little while Chris went to heaven. When he got there he was very suprised what he saw. Heaven was very nice place. He saw the same person that he saw at the hospital, but now he could see his face and the body correctly.

Analysis of The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien Essay

Analysis of The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien - Essay Example The story exhibited the manner by which a soldier copes up with guilt. The author explored the concept of blame that soldiers in the battle field experience specifically when another soldier whom they are supporting and sharing their everyday experience would be wounded or killed. The chapter is about the day after the first death in a particular group of soldiers in Vietnam. The death of Kiowa came as a shock that taught the group about different lessons in life, specifically in such a dangerous situation. In the chapter â€Å"In the Field† O’Brien wrote: When a man died, there had to be blame. Jimmy Cross understood this. You could blame the war. You could blame the idiots who made the war. You could blame Kiowa for going to it. You could blame the rain. You could blame the river. You could blame the field, the mud, the climate. You could blame the enemy. You could blame the mortar rounds. You could blame people who were too lazy to read a newspaper, who were bored by the daily body counts, who switched channels at the mention of politics. You could blame the munitions makers or Karl Marx or a trick of fate or an old man in Omaha who forgot to vote (169-170). In the end of the chapter, one of the characters, Jim Cross, the leader of the group, contemplated on the concept of blame and the manner by which soldiers in war should overcome the guilt (O’Brien 170). It can be perceived that Jim Cross’ view is that blame can be considered as an unproductive feeling and concept since it cannot change or resolve anything. No matter who or what becomes the target of the blame it cannot change the fact that a negative event had already occurred. In the story blame had been carried by all the soldiers in the group regarding the death of one of them, Kiowa. Everyone has their own view regarding how the death should have been prevented if each one of them had acted differently. This is good in terms of the fact that everyone in the group had prov en their sense of responsibility, attachment and dedication to their brothers in the battlefield. There are two characters who specifically exhibited the greatest guilt. One is the soldier who had been the last person who had talked to Kiowa. He blames himself for turning on the light to show the picture of his girlfriend to Kiowa, which revealed the position of the group and triggered the bombing (169). Another is Cross himself who was thinking that his lack of dedication and heart in joining the forces has caused the life of Kiowa because of the fact that he had made a wrong decision of making the group camp out in low land without any form of cover. In addition, he ignored the warnings of people around him (161). The thought of putting the blame to every possible reasons came from Cross. He understood how guilt can affect the performance of soldiers in battle, thus, regardless of how much he wanted to blame himself, he thought of every possible factor he can think of to blame. It is futile and unproductive to put blame on any factor but it is the way of the emotional faculties of the body to cope with the lost of a comrade. Included in the factors that Cross blamed are the war and the people who made war, which can be considered as two of the most pointless factors he had thought about. War cannot be resolved nor eliminated because it can be considered as part of human nature. This is related to the second factor which is the people who ma

The Long Arm Statute Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

The Long Arm Statute - Essay Example Jurisdiction over a defendant who is out-of-state is often known as extraterritorial personal jurisdiction or personam jurisdiction which permits a court to exert jurisdiction upon an individual. It is always an important requirement for a given court to listen to the merits of claims alleged. Going by the history, a given state had the capability of exercising its jurisdiction within its territorial limits. For that reason, a defendant who is nonresident was brought to court when the delivery of writ or summons (service of process) was settled while the defendant in question was within the state boundaries (Parness 486). In Adamson’s case, he lives in Idaho with his children who happened to have made an order of Makers Mark from Kentucky. Can Adamson serve the company with a â€Å"long arm service of process† and bring the case back to Idaho for court action? Adamson can serve the company with the long arm service of process so that the case can be taken back to Idaho. However, Kentucky would be ideal for handling the cases despite the fact that Adamson’s family hailed from Idaho, and had minimal contact with the forum state. In this case, Makers Mark was searched through the Internet and for that reason; there was ‘certain minimum contacts’ during the process.... However, Idaho is ideal for the hearing of the case as the defendants hail from the state and would be better placed to access the courts as opposed to going all the way to Kentucky. The best state for forum and review of the case would be Kentucky though with minimum contact, is the place to follow up the case as the transaction was done within the state. The fact that there was certain minimum contact was enough a reason to adopt the in Kentucky (Adams). Which state law from the two states should the Judge use? The judge will use the Kentucky state law which states that: A court may exert personal jurisdiction upon a person acting directly or through an agent as to claims emanating from the person’s conducting any business in this Commonwealth. The â€Å"person† in this case refers to an individual, administrator, his executor, any personal representative, partnership, association, corporation, or any other commercial or legal entity, who happens to be a non resident of the state (Parness 487). In this case Adamson is not the person that committed the act, but his children who acted as his representatives. They made the transaction on his behalf and are liable for legal action within Kentucky state statutes and laws. Explain the written law and your reasons. Analyze the written law in relation to this case, explain current case law and reach a conclusion as a judge Because the person (Adamson’s representatives) made an Internet search, this means that there was, in deed, certain minimum contact with the state. Secondly, the person also made calls and enquires and would later manage to convince the company through calls and fax that they were of the right age to make the transaction. The defendant has breached the Kentucky statute by

Turture Case Essay Example for Free

Turture Case Essay This world is full of crimes and war. There isn’t one country out there that doesn’t have some sort of confliction with other countries. Is it normal? Is it ok to be committing all these war crimes? Honestly there isn’t any reasonable answer for that. Several people argue differently about the situation on war crimes. The author of â€Å"Thinking about Torture†, also film critic for National Review, and author of many other books; Ross Douthat talks about what he thinks about war crimes, which he believes they are not correct but the war crimes could be justified. In the other hand the author of â€Å"Committing War Crimes for the ‘Right Reasons’†, Glenn Greenwald who was also a constitutional law and civil rights lawyer has his own opinion. He believes war crimes are not acceptable for any reason. Sometimes it’s difficult to decide what side is correct. The question here is, is torture ok? In â€Å"Thinking about Torture†, Douthat writes â€Å"It doesn’t excuse what was done by our government, and in our name, in prisons, in detentions, cells around the world. But anyone who felt the way I felt after 9/11 has to reckon with the fact that what was done in our name was, in some sense, done for us.† This illustrates that Douthat has somewhat mixed feelings about torture. He feels that there is no excuse for the use of torture and what the government has done. But the way he felt after the attack of 9/11 what the government did was done for us to feel some form of justice. In â€Å"Committing War Crimes for the ‘Right Reasons†Ã¢â‚¬â„¢, Greenwald makes it clear when he states â€Å"but we don’t accept that justifying reasoning when offered by other. In fact those who seek merely to explain – let alone justified the – the tyranny, extremism and/or violence of Castro, or Chavez, or Ha mas, or Slobodan Milosevic or Islamic extremists are immediately condemned for seeking to defend the indefensible, or invoking â€Å"root causes† to justify the unjustifiable, or offering mitigating rationale for pure evil.† With this he is saying that many people will always find some kind of defense to justify the use of torture, but in reality there is no justification for an act of malevolence. Douthat finds justifications to the tortures that could reasonable to some while Greenwald finds no justification and believes the excuses are poor. Even though Douthat and Greenwald may have different views they also have some similarities. They both agree in some way that it is not correct. Douthat states in paragraph 9, â€Å"here I am more comfortable saying straightforwardly that this should never have been allowed – that it should be considered impermissible as well as immoral, and that it should involve disgrace for those responsible, the Cheneys and Rumsfelds as well as the people who actually implemented the techniques that the Vice President’s office promoted and the Secretary of Defense signed off on.† Douthat is stating that the torture should have not taken place at all to beg in with and is unforgiveable. The people behind all of this should be ashamed of their actions. Greenwald states in paragraph 12, â€Å"What determines whether a political leader is good or evil isn’t their nationality. It’s their conduct. And leaders, who violate the laws of war and commit war crimes, by definition, aren’t good, even if they are American.† Greenwald is simply and clearly is stating that it doesn’t matter what nationality a leader is from to determine whether they are good or bad leaders, but what determines if they are good or bad leaders are by their actions. They both agree that a leader should be responsible with what actions they choose. And if a leader chooses an unpleasant action they should be ashamed and considered terrible leaders. As people may have their own views and opinions like Douthat and Greenwald one finding a justification for torture and the other finding no excuse for it. Everyone will always have their own view, opinion, and answer, but at the end the real answer will never be known. For example Douthat could convince with the justifications he finds but Greenwald will also convince some on how there is no justification. The correct decision should always be chosen to avoid all this conflicts some people will argue. But how does somebody actually what the â€Å"correct† choice is? With people like Douthat and Greenwald arguing their sides it’s difficult to choose the correct one.

is there too much reality tv? :: essays research papers

Is there too much reality TV? On the other hand shows like big brother only occur for a certain part of the year, however when big brother is on it is on for a long time therefore it consumes a lot of TV airtime. Even so a lot of the British public enjoy big brother and text in there votes every week. It might also be argued that people only watch reality TV because there is nothing else on TV at these times. On big brother alcohol is the most comely drunk beverage no one drinks water when there’s a bottle of wine to be had this influence young adults with access to alcohol Each year, students spend  £3 billion on alcohol that’s a lot more than they spend on soft-drinks, tea, milk, juice, and coffee. How ever alcohol in reality TV shows some young adults that if they get drunk bad things can happen and people can’t control them selves therefore it may put off some young adults from excessive drinking although youths may want to be like the new celebrities on the TV by drinking and copying there behaviour. Violence is a big issue and not only in reality TV many children see a large quantity of people being murdered on TV, on the contrary murders only occur on reality TV which is fiction e.g. Recreations of past times like the wars. It might also be argued that violence on reality TV is only shown after the watershed which means that parents are responsible for their kids if their children watch these violent shows. Therefore most parents complaining about violence on reality TV are the causes of children watching the violence and possibly copying what they see, and shouldn’t let their children watch the shows after nine o’clock. Television is making England fat. Harvard University researchers discovered that the odds of a child becoming obese have risen from 12 to 20% for each daily hour of television he/she watches. On the other hand reality TV is only a small cause of this on the other hand the snacks people consume while watching reality TV are overwhelmingly high in fat, cholesterol, salt, and sugar, and low in vitamins and minerals. The U.S. Surgeon General has revealed "that 70% of food advertisements are for foods high in fat, cholesterol, sugar, and salt, while only 3% are for fruits and vegetables.

Celta assignment 1 focus on the learner Essay

Part 1: Background a) There was a reasonably wide range of ability in this intermediate level group, although the majority of students were able to form coherent sentences. Some students were more confident in answering questions aloud, while some needed to use their dictionaries regularly during lessons, and were less assured with speaking in front of the class. The age ranged anywhere between mid-20’s and late 50’s. The most common interests of the group were listening to music and watching TV. Three students listed some kind of sport (such as football or swimming) as their main hobbies, while two students put reading as their main interest. Other hobbies included cooking, going to the theatre and travelling. Most students have been learning English for somewhere between 1 year and 2 years. The most inexperienced student said she’d only been learning for 2 months, whereas the most experienced had been learning for nearly 3 years. There was a very wide range of cultural backgrounds. About half the students were from somewhere in Asia such as Iraq, South Korea and Afghanistan. There were also many students from Europe, and some from South America and Africa. While their reasons for learning English varied from student to student, the most common reasons included wanting to further their careers and being able to interact with other people more comfortably. In the questionnaire handed to the students, the most commonly preferred activity was speaking, either in groups or pairs. This was probably inherent to the fact that the vast majority of students wanted to achieve a general increase in their conversational ability in English. No students listed writing as a preferred activity, and upon further conversation with students it seems that reading and writing are seen as a means of achieving better speaking and listening. With regards to learning styles, it seems that visual learning activities initiated the best response, with things like photos and pictures inducing the most class participation. However, there were also some students who preferred either listening or kinesthetic activities. b) The group’s communicative ability was generally OK, and almost all the students had the ability to get their point across. However, there were often mistakes in spoken sentences, the most common of which being the omission of auxiliary verbs and the confusion of tenses. With respect to dealing with not understanding, some of the more confident students would ask the teacher about certain words or concepts, whilst others had a tendency to look up words in their dictionary or ask their neighbour. c) Arsen has quite strong receptive skills. This was clear from the outset, as he was able to respond to most concept checking questions well. On a listening exercise on the subject of family relations, he was able to distinguish that a character had previously lived upstairs, but now he lives with his aunt and uncle. This was a question that many other students tripped up on due to not understanding the context of the past tense. In addition, Arsen handled a reading exercise well. Upon being given time to read a body of text concerning how English people spend their time at work, he was able to correctly answer questions on how much of this is actually spent working, so this indicates good general comprehension. Conversely, Avtar has relatively poor listening skills. He often confuses words and misunderstands instructions, which as a result leads to sometimes trying to carry out tasks in an incorrect way. This was evident in one exercise where the teacher asked him where the past participle was in the sentence. This induced a flurry of (incorrect) responses including ‘window’ and ‘steam train.’ His reading is also quite poor; one example of this was during a comprehension task where students had a list of statements and they had to simply tick which ones were true for them, but he instead began by underlining various words in the statements. Avtar would therefore benefit from being asked plenty of concept and instruction checking questions to clarify his understanding, and this might make his frequent contributions to the lesson more relevant. Part 2: Strengths and Weaknesses a) He met her while he was working in a bar. (Grammar) The majority of British people read a newspaper regularly. (Vocabulary) He used to live in Australia. (Pronunciation) b) 1) The student (Avtar) said â€Å"Do you read a good book at the moment?† (Grammar) This is incorrect because he used the present simple form instead of the continuous form, so it should be â€Å"are you reading a good book at the moment?† This mistake was probably made because the student assumed that since he was referring to the present tense, the verb was of the present simple form. However, this is incorrect as in this context, the act of reading is a continuous action. 2) The student (Agneska) wrote that â€Å"At least twice a week is different to two times a week or more† (Vocab) This is incorrect because these phrases are actually identical in meaning. The misunderstanding here has come from not realizing that â€Å"at least† in this context means â€Å"a minimum of†. 3) The student (Marwha) said â€Å"The average men does†¦.† (Pronounciation) Marwha meant to say â€Å"the average man† but pronounced, â€Å"man† with a /e/ sound rather than a /à ¦/ sound. Part 3: Helping the learner 1. For Avtar, the problem lies in identifying which tense and verb form to use. For this reason, I would suggest that he completes a ‘missing words’ type task, where he must choose the correct form of a verb in the context of a short body of text. The exercise could also have the base infinitive form of the required verb next to the empty space so that students are clear which verb to apply. This type of exercise could really benefit Avtar, especially since he sometimes confuses instructions, and in this task the process is very clear. (See next page for example of task.) 2. Agneska has been confused due to the fact that there are so many ways to compare things in English. She needs practice using comparatives, so I have designed a short task (see back page) where she must match up phrases that mean the same in English. This task might be particularly suitable for Agneska due to the fact that she said she was learning English to further her career and make her more employable, and having a range of comparatives and being able to use them correctly is common practice in any kind of office job.