This appeared last week:
Hospital moves to ban snapchat videos of live surgery and doctors want a national ban
Sue Dunlevy, National Health Reporter, News Corp Australia Network
July 1, 2017 12:30am
EXCLUSIVE: Doctors are calling for a national ban on Snapchat videos of live surgery claiming they present an infection and privacy risk and could jeopardise surgical outcomes.
One major private hospital’s clinical committee has already moved to ban the videos and Facebook has taken down at least one live surgery video because it was too graphic.
Westmead Private Hospital has confirmed its Medical Advisory Committee banned snapchatting of live surgery last month.
Plastic surgeon Dr Laith Barnouti is calling for Westmead Private Hospital’s ban to become nationwide claiming the filming of surgery carries an infection risk and distracts doctors and nurses from patient care.
“Doctors are using it as an advertisement saying this is happening live,” he says.
“Even though the patient has consented to live surgery broadcast they have no control over what is shown,” he says.
“If you are doing a tummy tuck you could put genitalia up or breasts could be published,” he said.
And he says the mobile phones used to film the video could pose and infection risk.
“When hospitals are dragged into legal cases it will only be a matter of time before the ban becomes national,” he said.
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The President of the Australian Society of Plastic Surgeons, Professor Mark Ashton said it was “worrying” that while social media had initially been used as a educational tool by doctors but was increasingly being used as a marketing device.
“I have spoken with those members whose Snapchat activity has come to my attention and have counselled them to modify their behaviour to ensure it is consistent with ASPS strong ethical code of conduct and does not breach the Medical Board guidelines,” he says.
Current regulatory guidelines do not mention snapchat and Professor Ashton said he intended to raise the issue with the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Authority and ask them to update the guidelines.
“There are also issues of patient consent not just for the initial “broadcast” but for subsequent and ongoing distribution outside of the original intended purpose,”he said.
As the peak body for specialist plastic surgeons, patient safety is the Australian Society of Plastic Surgeon’s number one priority and anything that threatens to compromise that would be of in breach of our code of conduct.
The medical regulator the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Authority says it has strict policies on patient privacy and the use of social media for advertising purposes.
“If practitioners don’t meet these standards we want to know about it,” a spokeswoman for AJPRA said.
Lots more here:
Enough said as far as I am concerned.
David.
1 comment:
Quite agree David, it also does little in regard to the profession public perception. A worry trend across many sectors.
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