Respecting patients’ right to privacy

Facebook and social networking platforms are all about engagement. However, the major hurdle for licensed health professionals navigating through social media is that they are held to a higher standard than other service businesses, such as restaurants, hotels and shoe stores.

In some cases it may be advisable to allow feedback, both good and bad. Consumers have become wise to wildly positive reviews on sites such as Yelp, and they may not seem real. Each situation should be carefully considered on its own merit. You can answer questions posted on your Facebook page wall judiciously, but as a health professional, precautions are necessary. If you respond to a post from an actual patient, that can be construed as a violation of the patient’s right to privacy, even though the patient initiated contact in a public forum.

If you have had a detailed and constructive complaint from a customer, it is advisable to respond quickly in private only. Listen to the customer, be objective and always avoid escalating a potentially negative issue. Try to understand the intentions and empathise with the emotions of the user whenever possible. Consider ways in which to resolve the situation swiftly and amicably, to avoid having an unhappy vocal patient who can impact on your professional reputation. Never enter into a lengthy dialogue on your page, as this is of course public. Your staff may want to ‘Facebook’ the individual who has posted in private or request an email to reach out. If this is dealt with effectively, you could even turn this into a positive experience

If the comment posted is not from one of the physician’s patients and is vague in detail, such as ‘my filler didn’t last’ or that laser treatment was a ‘rip off’, it is reasonable to respond with general comments such as ‘We are sorry to hear about your experience…’ The viewers of your page will then see that you have responded and are willing to enter into a dialogue, even if the person who complained does not respond. This strategy may encourage others to post questions or comments, and engage with your page.

If you receive a negative comment that is malicious or abusive, you can simply delete the post. If the abuse continues, you can block any comments posted by the sender. You can also ignore the comments by burying the post; which means that as other posts are added to your page, the abusive post will move further down the page into the archived pages where it will not be as visible. Similarly, self-promotional posts about services, products or other clinics, can be deleted and the user banned from posting on your page again.

Conclusions

By enhancing your Facebook presence, you can cultivate an engaged customer base and generate more clicks for your website, blog and other platforms. Twitter is a platform that can help grow your Facebook fan base as well. While Pinterest and Google+ are emerging are the next wave of social media platforms for businesses, Facebook is still the main social networking site on which to focus your efforts.