Social Media's Impact On The Healthcare Field

Over the past decade, social media’s impact on the world and how we interface with each other has been completely transformed. This is especially true for the healthcare world. Today, so many people utilize the internet for healthcare information. Patients use social media to determine which healthcare facility they seek for medical issues; best medical providers; best rankings for sub-specialties, etc. There are also a myriad of apps developed to track and improve one’s health (Gagnon, 2015). In general, I think companies in the healthcare field are managing this in a similar fashion. I work for a large, world renowned healthcare organization that embraces social media’s unique way of communicating. As such, we have several policies

around electronic communication, which are vague and far reaching.

First and foremost, our policies ensure we are promoting the core mission of the hospital. Employees should make certain they are utilizing social media in a way that represents the hospital in a positive manner. This does not include making political comments, disparaging remarks or any communication that is not consistent with the medical center’s anti-harassment policy just to name a few. This area is really serious and is closely monitored. For example, at my previous employer, one of my co-workers made racist comments on their Facebook account. The medical center was informed of these comments, investigated the situation and terminated the employee. Her comments were against policy, and conflicted with their mission and vision. In my opinion, this is why organizations ensure their policies are vague and far reaching so they can lawfully address these types of unfortunate circumstances.

In addition to policies, my work operationalizes their external communication monitoring by requiring employees log-in using their employee ID and password to utilize Wi-Fi. Also, any communication made via our intranet is tracked by our employee ID. Additionally, filters are implemented so certain webistes cannot be accessed. There are also reports leaders can run to verify their employees are using the web responsibly.

I think social media’s impact on our lives and the way we communicate is like Pandora’s box and should be treated with caution. I believe employers have every right to track their employees’ communication via social media, especially if their online presence associate them with their employer. I also do not think this limits our rights to free speech or hinders our ability to communicate opinions on a topic. The communication needs to be respectful to everyone regardless of their beliefs.