Tu1150 THE DISSEMINATION OF GI PROCEDURAL AND RADIOGRAPHIC IMAGES ON SOCIAL MEDIA: A SURVEY OF THE GASTROINTESTINAL ENDOSCOPY SOCIAL MEDIA ADVISORY BOARD

Abstract

Social media has been a medium increasingly adopted for academic discussion in recent years. Sharing of patient images include procedural images and radiographs occurs frequently on social media for educational purposes and crowdsourcing opinions when management conundrums are described. Despite the educational nature of social media use within the medical community, the ethicality and appropriateness of such image sharing behavior has been debated across specialties, and the views of social media experts within gastroenterology have yet to be ascertained. The aim of the study was to ascertain the degree of consensus surrounding the issue of sharing patient images on social media. Excluding the authors, a 10 question survey (Table 1) was distributed to the 11 remaining social media advisory board members of Gastrointestinal Endoscopy asking questions with regards to presence of patient identifiers and other identifying information, the timing and location of posting, the need for patient consent prior to posting images on social media, and the appropriateness of engaging with existing content that contains protected health information. There were 9 total advisory board respondents (82.8%). There was unianimous agreement for questions 1 through 4, as well as in questions 8 through 10, suggesting agreement that obvious patient identifiers are withheld from social media posts and that more guidance is necessary. For question 5, 2 respondents (22.2%) disagreed with having to post on a different day that patient care was delivered. Additionally, 4 (44.4%) respondents felt that patient consent is not necessary prior to social media posting of a patient-derived image. Moreover, if one was to be tagged in a post, 3 respondents (33.3%) felt that it was permissible to engage with content by other individuals (by "liking" or "reposting") even if it contains protected health information. Among the Gastrointestinal Endoscopy social media advisory board, there continues to be disagreement over appropriate methods of handling patient images on social media, especially with regards to patient consent prior to posting images and engaging with content already containing protected health information. Further investigation and discussion is necessary to develop consensus around the utilization of patient images on social media.