Part A::: As a health information management (HIM) professional, you will have access to protected health information (PHI). With social media being so prevalent in society, how do you see social media applying to healthcare? What ethical and legal implications exist? As an HIM professional, why is it important to abide by the AHIMA Code of Ethics?Part B::: In response to your peers, offer feedback on their initial posts.Peer 1 Post: Social media is used amongst medical professionals to share information and create medical blogs. However, the code of ethics must be followed when using social media. Patient privacy must be protected when on social media as well. Medical professionals aren’t allowed to discuss medical diagnoses on social media. Social media can be used for educational purposes and networking. Social media puts patients at risk for sharing personal medical information, damaging their images, and violates personal boundaries. Many professionals use social media for personal reason or to join research groups about clinical studies. Physician discuss challenges they face within their facilities, attend lives forums, network with other physicians. They almost gather second opinions to make a decision on specialty care. Social media raises legal and ethical issues. It takes creative skills to interact on social media. The challenges are the user
’s rights and their judgement on ethical issues. Doximity is a platform for “physicians only” to share text and images which complies with HIPAA. Many social media sites require credentialing which protects the physicians who are sharing information on the forums.Peer 2 Post: Today most people have easy access to social media and are consuming new information constantly, that is why social media has become a place where many people go to share and learn new updates about healthcare. Every time I am on social media I have seen people in the health field post pictures of themselves at work, a patient they worked with, or even complain about a patient online where anyone could read it. With witnessing this online I know most people in the field didn’t intend to but they have violated the AHIMA code of ethics, by featuring a patient who did not want to be online or accidentally sharing private patient information. It is very important to abide by the AHIMA code of ethics because it will not only keep a patients information secure and ensure their privacy is not broken, but it will also ensure the employee will keep their job and hold a high level of work professionalism. If these codes are not taken lightly serious consequences could result. Such as lawsuits against the place of work and employer themselves, and the employee could also loose their job.