Partnering with patients to realize the benefits of social media

Despite widespread concern about the potential risks of the use of social media, we are optimistic that social networks and blogs have the potential to enhance the practice of medicine by allowing clinicians to share ideas and information within the health care community, with patients, and with the general public. In particular, we believe that there can be value in posting information related to a patient encounter on social media, but only if care has been taken to consider the consequences of such a post from the patient's perspective. Thus, having a discussion with a patient and obtaining verbal consent before posting even deidentified patient information should become standard practice for all physicians who use social media.