Sports and exercise (SEM) clinicians need thick skin and a
nimble brain to juggle the plethora of competing professional
responsibilities;
from athlete clinical care, to work/life
pressures, all while developing professional knowledge and skills. In
recent years
there has also been an assertion that SEM
clinicians need to develop/maintain a social media presence, and many
working in
amateur and elite sport now have Facebook,
Twitter and Instagram profiles. Although professional bodies have
provided social
media guidance (see web appendix for
additional reading) there is no explicit SEM specific social media
guidance.
In amateur sport, where there is not the day-to-day contact with athletes that a professional sporting environment allows,
social media represents a channel of communication between the sports clinician and the athlete.1 ,2
In this hyperconnected age it is appropriate to interact with the
athletes under our care using social media, but this needs
to be carried out in a way that is
professional, ethical and in keeping with the social media guidance from
the respective
professional organsations (see web
appendix). Private discussions using social networks can help resolve
communication/geographical
challenges and may include multiple
members of the multidisciplinary team at once, which can be beneficial
while simultaneously
remaining confidential (eg, WhatsApp
messages and Twitter direct messages).
Sports clinicians communicating
via social media need to be cognisant of their conduct in seveal areas.
Confidentiality must
always be respected, and broadcasted
opinions on refereeing/coaching decisions may undermine the integrity of
the competition
and provoke team/club scrutiny and
controversy. Disclosing injury statuses via social media posts is
another obvious pitfall
worth avoiding. ‘Trolls’ exist online in
many guises,3
and high-profile clinicians who have a social media presence should
avoid interaction with such individuals. For clinicians
operating in professional sport, there are
examples of public conflicts bringing undue attention on the clinician
and club,
with unwelcome consequences.
Relationships that exist between
medical staff and athletes often extend deeper than traditional
clinician–patient relationships
seen in hospitals and clinics. In most
medical settings a doctor or physiotherapist may not ‘retweet’ content
from their patients
but sports clinicians frequently do this,
possibly as a means of promoting their sport or club which may seem to
be of benefit
to both the individual and the
organisation. Many ethical considerations from these online interactions
can arise, for example,
if players and staff in a squad are often
seen as parts of an ‘extended family’, due to the amount of time they
spend together,
then is it acceptable for clinicians to
‘befriend’ their players on Facebook? Or reply to their tweets on
Twitter? Or comment
on their photos on Instagram? It is
difficult to be prescriptive in responding to these questions, as there
will be prevailing
sociocultural norms and individual
circumstances. Social networking with athletes can result in ‘ethical
baggage’, which can
complicate the clinician–patient
relationship and medical care as social networking is public and a very
different entity
to private–personal friendship.
Given how social media has become a normal part of society (and sport), it is suggested that sports clinicians embrace the
media as it has the potential to enhance their practice4 and in some cases can be used to effectively deliver healthcare interventions5 and even change public health policy.6 However, it is important that clinicians are aware of the appropriate use of social media, and steps to encourage social
media education for clinicians in other areas of healthcare7
should be adopted by sports medicine. We have generated a list of what
we consider are social media best-practice recommendations
for clinicians working in sports medicine (box 1) and hope that the sports and exercise medicine social media list can assist sports medicine clinicians to responsibly shape
their social media presence.
Sports and exercise medicine social media top tips
-
Always respect clinical confidentiality.
-
Embrace social media use—it is an effective tool for knowledge dissemination, promoting clinical best practice and networking with peers.
-
Think before you post—would you be happy re-reading your post in 1 week, month or years later?
-
Steer clear from trolls and puerile online arguments. Let the trolls stay in their caves.
-
Be cognisant of making a grave faux pas such as disparaging opinions on referees, tactics, releasing team and/or personal information, especially in the professional sports world.
-
When sharing images of players and colleagues, ensure you seek their informed consent prior to circulating them in the public domain.
-
Stay up to date and aware of new and emerging platforms that your players may be using (eg, snapchat).
-
In professional sports with media, marketing and communication departments, liaise with the experts to identify methods to utilise social media for wider public health benefits and to minimise risks of misinterpretation/misrepresentation.
-
Know your relevant profession's code of ethics/conduct, or/and advocate for inclusion of social media guidance.
-
If you are working within a squad, consider acting as a reference point to help influence and generate good social media etiquette and practice.
Social media influences many aspects of the sports medicine clinician's practice, as shown by the use and popularity of the
BJSM's Twitter feed, with almost 21 000 followers at the start of 2015.8
Sports medicine has always been a fast-moving and dynamic area of
medicine, and social media has accelerated this scope but
faciliated the potential for generating
myths and disseminating incorrect/inappropriate information. Careful and
considered
use of social media should help this
evolutionary process to be safe and enjoyable for sports medicine
clinicians, and ensure
that business and show business remain
separate in the public domain.
Footnotes
-
Twitter Follow Osman Ahmed at @osmanhahmed
-
Contributors OHA conceived the concept of this paper. All authors participated in discussing the ideas in this paper. OHA, RW and SJS generated the primary draft of this paper. All authors assisted in creating the final version of this paper.
-
Competing interests None declared.
-
Provenance and peer review Not commissioned; externally peer reviewed.
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