Students accepted to Feinberg and current Feinberg medical students should be cautious in using social networking such as Facebook, Twitter, blogging etc. The profession of medicine is founded on the highest standards of conduct because of the great level of trust patients place in medical professionals. After you are admitted to Feinberg, enrollment remains contingent on your demonstration of this high standard of conduct, through sound judgment, personal perception, integrity and accountability. Posting items that represent unprofessional behavior, release patient health information, violate HIPAA standards or Northwestern University policies on social networking sites will result in disciplinary action by the medical school. - Always represent yourself professionally
As a Feinberg medical student, you are entrusted with a wealth of confidential patient information. Sharing patient information verbally or electronically is illegal and unethical. As a medical professional in training, it is your responsibility to uphold a professional, discreet demeanor in all of your correspondences and posts.
- Protect your online profile and identity
It is important to scrutinize all materials you post on personal pages. It is equally important to speak to family and friends and request that no embarrassing or unprofessional materials be posted and “tagged” to you. Be selective about who you accept as a friend on a social network.
- Assume that everything posted is permanent
Be mindful of what you post. Even if you remove embarrassing or inappropriate materials from a site, or delete your account all together, those materials will remain in cyberspace forever. Anyone on the internet can easily print photos or save text, images and videos to a computer. Once material is posted, it is out of your control forever.
- Privacy Settings
Take the time to establish privacy settings on all social networking sites you use. These settings will help to protect your identity and personal information.
- Search Yourself
On a regular basis, search yourself online to audit what is posted about you.
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