Author: Ray Tuck, DC 

The newest way to reach potential new patients is social media.  This includes Facebook, Twitter, and blogs.

These are great ways to establish yourself as an expert in a specific field and reach multiple people in an inexpensive format (basically free).

However, I do have some concerns about this new media and I believe some guidelines should be developed for us as healthcare providers.

The reality is that the majority of these guidelines I have spelled out below are “common sense.”  However; I think it is necessary to be specific.

I have adapted some guidelines written by Anne Giles Clelland with Handshake 2.0 to create guidelines for healthcare providers.

Here they are:

Patients’ names or situations where someone could figure out who a patient is should never be used.

• Blog posts are not ghostwritten, i.e. written by one person with authorship attributed to another person.
• The author of the post is identified in the post.
• Posts written by guest bloggers writing on behalf of their own companies, products, or services, or on behalf of others, are identified as such in the post.
• The author of the post has full discretion to share his or her full experience.
• If the author of the post has a relationship, whether personal or financial, to the person, company, product, or service he or she has written about - or has linked to - that has been stated in the post.
• Always follow HIPAA and red flag guidelines for the safety of our patients (Tuck Chiropractic’s primary concern).  
• And lastly, and most importantly, put yourself in your patient’s shoes to determine how you would feel if you read such a post from your doctor!