When Matt Goldstein entered medical school at Stanford, his instructors warned him about keeping
Facebook or
Twitter pages, saying that social media activity could lead to violations of HIPAA patient
privacy rules.
As he prepares to begin his residency, Goldstein has once again received the now familiar warning. "I actually just got an email from my residency program, and they cautioned us strongly about social media and about using it judiciously."
Medical students and physicians face the choice of either not using social media or using pseudonyms that only friends know in order to avoid violating privacy rules and to steer clear of inappropriate contact with patients.
