Exploring changes in the perception of e-professionalism among medical and dental students: a quantitative cross-sectional study.

AIM: To compare e-professionalism perceptions between medical and dental students, focusing on their awareness and understanding of guidelines for developing e-professionalism. METHODS: A cross-sectional quantitative study was conducted at the University of Zagreb School of Medicine (UZSM) and School of Dental Medicine (UZSDM) in 2022/2023. Data were gathered through a questionnaire designed specifically for the survey. RESULTS: Of the 646 questionnaires collected, 626 were analyzed, with a response rate of 33.95% for UZSM and 37.83% for UZSDM. Most respondents (71.4%) were female, with a median age of 21. Medical students significantly more frequently considered it unprofessional to publish posts containing photos of patients/clients (96.5% vs 75.1%), endorsements of health products without conflict-of-interest disclosures (60.6% vs 33.0%), and posts describing patient interactions without revealing identifying information (51.7% vs 27.4%). In contrast, dental medicine students more frequently considered it unprofessional to publish posts with swearing or foul language (81.2% vs 67.4%), critical comments about lecturers (68.0% vs 46.9%), and criticisms of course material or the institution (52.3% vs 36.4%). Only 23.2% of students were aware of e-professionalism guidelines, with 37.9% of those familiar with their content. CONCLUSION: While medical and dental students recognize the importance of e-professionalism, their perceptions have substantial differences. The need for promoting existing guidelines and integrating e-professionalism into curricula is evident. Continuous monitoring and research in this domain are essential to ensure future health care professionals maintain high standards of online professionalism.

Impact of Social Media Use on Mental Health within Adolescent and Student Populations during COVID-19 Pandemic: Review.

The COVID-19 pandemic has drastically changed our lives. By increased screen time during the pandemic, social media (SM) could have significantly impacted adolescents' and students' mental health (MH). This literature review aims to synthesize the research on the impact of SM usage on MH of adolescents and students during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic. A review of the published literature was conducted in April 2021, through a search of PubMed and Web of Science Core Collection databases. The search yielded 1136 records, with 13 articles selected for this review. Most of the included studies observed the negative impact of SM use on MH of adolescents and students, most noticeably observed were anxiety, depression and stress. More active and prolonged SM usage was associated with a negative impact on MH of adolescents and students. Two studies recorded some potentially positive effects, such as support in coping and providing a sense of connection for those who were isolated due to social distancing measures. Since this review focuses on the early period of the pandemic, future studies should investigate the long-term impact of SM use on adolescents and students MH, with all relevant elements that can enable adequate public health response.

Defining Potentially Unprofessional Behavior on Social Media for Health Care Professionals: Mixed Methods Study.

BACKGROUND: Social media presence among health care professionals is ubiquitous and largely beneficial for their personal and professional lives. New standards are forming in the context of e-professionalism, which are loosening the predefined older and offline terms. With these benefits also come dangers, with exposure to evaluation on all levels from peers, superiors, and the public, as witnessed in the #medbikini movement. OBJECTIVE: The objectives of this study were to develop an improved coding scheme (SMePROF coding scheme) for the assessment of unprofessional behavior on Facebook of medical or dental students and faculty, compare reliability between coding schemes used in previous research and SMePROF coding scheme, compare gender-based differences for the assessment of the professional content on Facebook, validate the SMePROF coding scheme, and assess the level of and to characterize web-based professionalism on publicly available Facebook profiles of medical or dental students and faculty. METHODS: A search was performed via a new Facebook account using a systematic probabilistic sample of students and faculty in the University of Zagreb School of Medicine and School of Dental Medicine. Each profile was subsequently assessed with regard to professionalism based on previously published criteria and compared using the SMePROF coding scheme developed for this study. RESULTS: Intercoder reliability increased when the SMePROF coding scheme was used for the comparison of gender-based coding results. Results showed an increase in the gender-based agreement of the final codes for the category professionalism, from 85% in the first phase to 96.2% in the second phase. Final results of the second phase showed that there was almost no difference between female and male coders for coding potentially unprofessional content for students (7/240, 2.9% vs 5/203, 2.5%) or for coding unprofessional content for students (11/240, 4.6% vs 11/203, 5.4%). Comparison of definitive results between the first and second phases indicated an understanding of web-based professionalism, with unprofessional content being very low, both for students (9/222, 4.1% vs 12/206, 5.8%) and faculty (1/25, 4% vs 0/23, 0%). For assessment of the potentially unprofessional content, we observed a 4-fold decrease, using the SMePROF rubric, for students (26/222, 11.7% to 6/206, 2.9%) and a 5-fold decrease for faculty (6/25, 24% to 1/23, 4%). CONCLUSIONS: SMePROF coding scheme for assessing professionalism of health-care professionals on Facebook is a validated and more objective instrument. This research emphasizes the role that context plays in the perception of unprofessional and potentially unprofessional content and provides insight into the existence of different sets of rules for web-based and offline interaction that marks behavior as unprofessional. The level of e-professionalism on Facebook profiles of medical or dental students and faculty available for public viewing has shown a high level of understanding of e-professionalism.

Dangers and Benefits of Social Media on E-Professionalism of Health Care Professionals: Scoping Review.

BACKGROUND: As we are witnessing the evolution of social media (SM) use worldwide among the general population, the popularity of SM has also been embraced by health care professionals (HCPs). In the context of SM evolution and exponential growth of users, this scoping review summarizes recent findings of the e-professionalism of HCPs. OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this scoping review is to characterize the recent original peer-reviewed research studies published between November 1, 2014, to December 31, 2020, on e-professionalism of HCPs; to assess the quality of the methodologies and approaches used; to explore the impact of SM on e-professionalism of HCPs; to recognize the benefits and dangers of SM; and to provide insights to guide future research in this area. METHODS: A search of the literature published from November 1, 2014, to December 31, 2020, was performed in January 2021 using 3 databases (PubMed, CINAHL, and Scopus). The searches were conducted using the following defined search terms: "professionalism" AND "social media" OR "social networks" OR "Internet" OR "Facebook" OR "Twitter" OR "Instagram" OR "TikTok." The search strategy was limited to studies published in English. This scoping review follows the PRISMA-ScR (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses Extension for Scoping Reviews) guidelines. RESULTS: Of the 1632 retrieved papers, a total of 88 studies were finally included in this review. Overall, the quality of the studies was satisfactory. Participants in the reviewed studies were from diverse health care professions. Medical health professionals were involved in about three-quarters of the studies. Three key benefits of SM on e-professionalism of HCPs were identified: (1) professional networking and collaboration, (2) professional education and training, and (3) patient education and health promotion. For the selected studies, there were five recognized dangers of SM on e-professionalism of HCPs: (1) loosening accountability, (2) compromising confidentiality, (3) blurred professional boundaries, (4) depiction of unprofessional behavior, and (5) legal issues and disciplinary consequences. This scoping review also recognizes recommendations for changes in educational curricula regarding e-professionalism as opportunities for improvement and barriers that influence HCPs use of SM in the context of e-professionalism. CONCLUSIONS: Findings in the reviewed studies indicate the existence of both benefits and dangers of SM on e-professionalism of HCPs. Even though there are some barriers recognized, this review has highlighted existing recommendations for including e-professionalism in the educational curricula of HCPs. Based on all evidence provided, this review provided new insights and guides for future research on this area. There is a clear need for robust research to investigate new emerging SM platforms, the efficiency of guidelines and educational interventions, and the specifics of each profession regarding their SM potential and use.

Social media use habits, and attitudes toward e-professionalism among medicine and dental medicine students: a quantitative cross-sectional study.

AIM: To describe and compare social media (SM) use habits, and attitudes of medical and dental students toward e-professionalism and to determine their opinion on potentially unprofessional behavior and posts. METHODS: In this quantitative cross-sectional questionnaire study, students of the University of Zagreb School of Medicine and those of the School of Dental Medicine completed a survey-specific questionnaire on the use of SM, SM habits, and attitudes toward e-professionalism. RESULTS: Of the 714 collected questionnaires, we analyzed 698 (411 from medical and 287 from dental students). The most commonly used SM were Facebook (99%) and Instagram (80.7%). Unprofessional content was recognized by both groups. Medical students significantly more frequently considered the posts containing patient photos (61% vs 89.8%; P<0.001), describing interaction with a patient not revealing any personal identifiable information (23% vs 41.8%; P<0.001), and containing critical comments about faculty (53% vs 39.7%; P=0.001) to be unprofessional. Dental medicine students were significantly more open to communication through SM (39.7% vs 16.3%; P<0.001), more often reported that they would accept (41.5% vs 12.2%; P<0.001), and had accepted (28.2% vs 5.6%; P<0.001) friend requests/follows/tracks from patients, and sent friend requests/follows/tracks to their patients (5.2% vs 1.2%; P=0.002). CONCLUSION: Both groups were highly aware of e-professionalism. Dental students were more desensitized to visual representations of patients, and more prone to SM interactions with patients, which might expose them to the risk of unprofessional behavior.