Health Affairs blog looks at docs' online quarrels, comments

Physicians are very busy, but that busy-ness doesn't seem to stop them from taking time to post long and angry comments online.

Physicians seem most apt to take the bait when it comes to reacting to provocative posts on physician-related issues including scope of practice. But instead of offering constructive discussion, the online comments often come off as insensitive or bullying, a post published last week on the Health Affairs blog said.

The bloggers referred to an instance on KevinMD when a nurse practitioner was attacked for sharing his perspective on the issue of scope of practice for nurse practitioners. Many physicians and medical associations have been strongly opposed to expanding NPs' scope of practice.

“Within hours of his posting, there was so much hate speech directed at him—including a complaint sent directly to the president of the university where he works—that he feared for his safety. He had the piece taken down, effectively silencing himself,” the bloggers wrote.

The Health Affairs blog offered suggestions on how to conduct civil online discussions. Among the suggestions: avoiding broad generalizations and name-calling, and making opinions clear by owning comments and offering accountability.

The demeaning comments extend to more than scope of practice, as the rapidly changing healthcare industry has placed more accountability on physicians, the bloggers wrote. The instant gratification of submitting an online comment offers an opportunity to vent for overworked and stressed physicians.

Dr. Kevin Pho, founder of KevinMD, offered his own take on online manners for docs.

“No matter what the field, anonymous comments on blogs and other social media have the potential to devolve the conversation,” Pho wrote in an e-mail to Modern Healthcare. “This is especially true with contentious topics like expanding nurse practitioners' scope of care. From my experience, the best way to elevate the conversation is to verify identities and ensure real names are used. Of course, tight controls may limit the debate, so there's a balance that all social media editors need to navigate.”

A spokeswoman for the American Medical Association declined to comment on the Health Affairs blog piece. But she pointed out that the AMA had its own social media policy for professionals. That policy includes many of the same suggestions with the Health Affairs list. That suggests the AMA has faced the same problem of angry physician posters that KevinMD has experienced.

Of course, it's probably better for physicians to express their anger in an online comment than in the exam room.

Follow Ashok Selvam on Twitter: @MH_aselvam