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A critical analysis of the social media policies in Ontario's healthcare system

Moutasem A. Zakkar (School of Public Health and Health Systems, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Canada)
Samantha B. Meyer (School of Public Health and Health Systems, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Canada)
Craig R. Janes (School of Public Health and Health Systems, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Canada)

International Journal of Health Governance

ISSN: 2059-4631

Article publication date: 16 December 2021

Issue publication date: 11 February 2022

412

Abstract

Purpose

Social media has made a revolutionary change in the relationship between the customers and business or service providers by enabling customers to publish and share feedback and views about product or service quality. This revolutionary change has not been echoed in some healthcare systems. This study analyses the social media policies of healthcare regulatory authorities in Ontario and explores how these policies encourage or discourage healthcare professionals' use of social media for collecting patient stories and understanding patient experience.

Design/methodology/approach

The study used qualitative content analysis to analyse the policy documents, focusing on the manifest themes in these documents. It used convenient sampling to select 12 organizations, including regulating and licensing bodies and health service delivery organizations in Ontario. The authors collected 24 documents from these organizations, including policies, practice standards and social media learning materials.

Findings

In Ontario's healthcare system, social media is perceived as a source of risks to the healthcare professions and professionals. Healthcare regulators emphasize that the codes of conduct and professional standards extend to social media. The study found no systematic recognition of patient stories on social media as a source of information on healthcare quality that can be useful for healthcare professionals.

Originality/value

The study identifies potential unintended consequences of social media policies in the healthcare system and calls for policy and cultural changes to enable the development of safe social media platforms that can facilitate interaction between healthcare providers and patients, when necessary, without the fear of legal consequences or privacy breaches.

Keywords

Acknowledgements

This research received no specific grant from any funding agency, commercial or not-for-profit sectors.

Citation

Zakkar, M.A., Meyer, S.B. and Janes, C.R. (2022), "A critical analysis of the social media policies in Ontario's healthcare system", International Journal of Health Governance, Vol. 27 No. 1, pp. 87-104. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJHG-03-2021-0032

Publisher

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Emerald Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2021, Emerald Publishing Limited

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