Perceptions of e-professionalism among dental students: a UK dental school study

Contemporary dental student professionalism: moving towards a macro-level perspective

Defining professionalism and developing educational interventions that foster and assess student professionalism are integral to dental education. Nevertheless, conceptual, methodological and pedagogic differences define the academic field, leaving students, educators and the profession itself struggling to make meaningful progress on how best to elicit and monitor dental student professionalism. This article proposes that more progress can be made on this important issue when a contextualised, sociological assessment of dentistry and dental professionalism is undertaken. We contend that identifying some of the socio-cultural demands in UK dental students' lives, and acknowledging how these pressures shape their interactions with the UK dental education system, provides a nuanced and contemporaneous understanding of what it means to be an oral health care professional at a time of social and health care upheaval. Dental educators can use this insight to work towards being more understanding of and responsive to dental student professional development.

A Scoping Review of eProfessionalism in Healthcare Education Literature

OBJECTIVE

This study sought to answer the research question, 'How does eProfessionalism manifest in health profession student behaviors?' Key areas explored were how the concept of eProfessionalism is defined in empirical studies, healthcare profession student and educator perceptions of how online behaviors reflected eProfessionalism, and how eProfessionalism as a construct might assist healthcare students to understand the implications of their online behaviors.

METHODS

Scoping reviews are used in research areas where there is limited evidence available. This review followed a systematic process using the extended Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines, which included clear inclusion/exclusion criteria, and a process of charting, collating, and summarizing the results from searching 8 databases.

RESULTS

In total, 38 papers are included in this review primarily reflecting the professions of pharmacy medicine, nursing/midwifery, and dentistry. Five key themes were identified: defining eProfessionalism; online behavior; student/faculty perceptions of eProfessionalism in social media use; students not making a connection between personal use and online professional identity; and guidelines and training.

CONCLUSION

This review suggests that health professions students struggle with blurred boundaries between personal and professional online presence, particularly concerning social media. Despite guidelines some students demonstrate unprofessional behaviors online suggesting further support is required for students to demonstrate eProfessionalism when engaging in digital environments.

Connectivity and Integration of Instagram® Use in the Lives of Dental Students and Professionals: A Country-Wide Cross-Sectional Study Using the InstaAA© Questionnaire

Purpose

This study probed towards the impact of Instagram® on the lives of dental students and professionals and how it affects their learning and professional performance.

Patients and Methods

A 24-item copyrighted and validated questionnaire was employed to examine the affinity and aftermath of Instagram® in the lives of dental students using a cross-sectional survey technique. Part I (6 questions) is the first of three sections included information on the participant's sociodemographic traits, Part II (8 questions) - Screened to determine Instagram® use, and Part III (10 questions) - Was based on attitudes regarding Instagram® to assess their mental, physical, and emotional well-being. It includes a Likert scale with ten questions. The sample was collected by combining convenience and snowball sampling approaches. The difference in proportion was assessed using frequency and percentage. The Chi Square test of proportion was used to the data to examine and a p value <0.05 was considered as the proportional difference.

Results

The study comprised 461 participants, with 155 (33.6%) men and 306 (66.4%) women, having an average age of 23.13 ± 4.95 years. Among the participants, a significant proportion (119, 25.8%) were dental interns. In terms of Instagram® usage, 167 participants (36.2%) reported spending between 30 minutes and 1 hour on the platform (p<0.01). Approximately 52.5% acknowledged the influence of Instagram® on their dressing, behaviour, and usage of other social media platforms (p<0.01). Moreover, 52.1% experienced common distractions while performing important tasks, and 40.6% reported negative effects on their mental and emotional well-being (p<0.05).

Conclusion

This research concludes by emphasizing the huge influence that Instagram® has on dental workers' life. The results underline the necessity of striking a balance between social media use and academic and personal obligations while also emphasizing the need for knowledge and education about Instagram® features and ramifications.

Comparative assessment of attitudes among medical and dental professionals in Saudi Arabia toward e-professionalism using the SMEPROF-S scale

Background

Social media (SM) usage is on the rise among health professionals at all levels to align with the emerging digital and SM era. e-Professionalism is described as attitudes and actions that resemble traditional professionalism paradigms but are expressed through digital media. Although there are a number of studies conducted in the past several years measuring e-professionalism of medical and dental professionals, there is no validated scale to assess the level of e-professionalism among medical and dental professionals in Saudi Arabia. Therefore, this study aimed to assess attitudes toward e-professionalism among medical and dental professionals in Saudi Arabia using the SMePROF-S scale.

Methods

This cross-sectional study recruited 338 medical and dental students and practitioners from 20 cities in Saudi Arabia to complete an online SMePROF-S self-reported questionnaire measuring attitudes about e-professionalism.

Results

Among participants, 31.66% believed that it is acceptable to communicate with patients through SM, but only 16.86% agreed with communicating via personal SM account messaging. Many participants (35.80%-50%) fear that SM use can cause problems with getting hired, people making inaccurate assumptions and perceptions, and job losses. There were 31.36% who believed that sharing patient information without consent is acceptable. The majority (63.02%-63.31%) do not believe that medical/dental professionals should be barred from using SM, and 40.53% believe that schools/organizations have no right to interfere with their online activities. Only 22.19% believed that SM use removed professional protections from the public. A few statements were statistically different by specialty and gender.

Conclusion

There is a variability of attitudes about e-professionalism among medical and dental professionals in Saudi Arabia, with some alarming issues requiring national guidelines to ensure patient rights, privacy, and confidentiality.

Factor analysis of risk perceptions of using digital and social media in dental education and profession

PURPOSE

This study explored how dental students and dental professionals perceive risks of using digital and social media (DSM) in a dental professional context and validated a questionnaire to measure DSM perceived risks specifically among dental students and dental professionals.

METHODS

A cross-sectional survey study was carried out amongst dental students (undergraduate and postgraduate) and dental professionals at a dental school in the UK. Data were collected using a 38-item questionnaire developed using interviews, experts' evaluation, and previous perceived risks studies of internet services and social media. Risk factors were identified using exploratory factor analysis (EFA). The internal consistency of the extracted factors was determined by Cronbach's α-coefficient reliability test.

RESULTS

A total of 301 dental students and dental professionals completed the questionnaire. EFA identified eight factors perceived by dental students and professionals as critical to their DSM use. Some identified perceived risks were associated with all DSM users in the general context (e.g., personal privacy, and negative impact on self-image), but others were specific to the dental professional context (e.g., breaches of patients' confidentiality, public deception, and reputational damage). The identified factors explained 63.55% of the variance with eigenvalues >1. Cronbach's alpha for the total questionnaire was 0.9.

CONCLUSIONS

This study data has deepened the understanding of perceived risks that influence dental students and professionals' DSM use. This will help develop education, training, and guidance to mitigate and manage the risks associated with DSM use in the dental professional context.

Changing Professional Behaviors in the Digital World Using the Medical Education e-Professionalism (MEeP) Framework-A Mixed Methods Multicentre Study

Background:

There is increasing evidence on the exponential use of technology-based social media in medical field that has led to a proliferation of unprofessional behaviors in digital realm. Educating, training, and changing the behaviors of healthcare professionals are essential elements to restrain the rising unprofessional incidents. Therefore, this research was designed to determine the impact of an interventional workshop on the medical and dental students in improving their professional behaviors in the digital world using the newly developed medical Education e-Professionalism (MEeP) framework.

Methods

We adopted the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) as a benchmark reference which explores constructs intertwined with the mission-based MEeP framework; values (whistleblowing-raising concerns), behaviors (being responsible in the digital world) and identity (reflective practice in the digital world). A multicentre 3-phased mixed-method study was conducted using a pre-workshop survey, an online interventional workshop, and a post-workshop survey. SPSS and NVivo were the tools used for the data analysis.

Results

A total of 130 students registered for workshop out of which 120 completed the pre-workshop survey, 62 joined the workshop and 59 completed the workshop and post-workshop survey. From the whistleblowing – raising concern perspective, we found that attitudes and perceived behavioral control had a significant relationship. While for responsible in digital world category, attitude and perceived behavioral control had a significant bearing on the intentions. Third, for reflective practice, attitude and subjective norms significantly enhanced the intention of participants. A multi layered thematic analysis yielded four overarching themes of attitudes, subjective norms, perceived behavioral control and intentions. Most students showed positive attitudes of being reflective, self-directed, and humane. Students realized the subjective norms had made them conscientious, self-aware and conformative. While perceived behavioural control manifested as identity and Intentions were heavily reliant on self-actualization.

Conclusion

Our mixed method study found that the interventional workshop using MEeP framework significantly improved attitudes, subjective norms, perceived behavioral control, and intentions. This study provides valuable evidence of MEeP framework evaluation using the theoretical underpinning of TPB by reporting positive changes in professional values, behaviors, and identities of undergraduate medical and dental students.

Digital professionalism on social media: The opinions of undergraduate nursing students

BACKGROUND

Social media are a suite of popular online technologies that enable people to share and co-create digital content. Evidence suggests some nursing students utilise social media inappropriately but there is limited literature on nursing students' opinions of professionalism in online environments. This study aimed to examine the opinions of nursing students in relation to digital professionalism on social media.

METHOD

A descriptive, cross-sectional study was conducted with undergraduate nursing students in the United Kingdom (n = 112). An existing self-reported questionnaire was adapted for data collection. This was distributed to adult nursing students enrolled across all four years of a Bachelor of Nursing programme. Data were analysed using descriptive statistics.

FINDINGS

Many nursing students were heavy social media users (n = 49, 44%), with Facebook, Instagram, and Snapchat being the most popular applications. Nursing students were also aware of the professional nursing regulator, the Nursing and Midwifery Council, guidelines on responsible social media use (n = 48, 43%). Nursing students' responses to various digitally professional scenarios revealed agreement that posts about alcohol or sexually explicit content, along with comments about colleagues or patients were inappropriate. However, there were mixed views around taking photographs at work, with some nursing students across all four years of the degree programme perceiving this to be satisfactory behaviour.

DISCUSSION

The opinions of nursing students towards digital professionalism on social media are somewhat aligned with professional standards, although students can hold varying views on the subject. More research on how nursing students employ social media is warranted to ensure their opinions match their actual practice in online environments. It is also recommended to educate nursing students about the professional values and behaviours required on social media and how best to communicate, interact, and share information on the various online platforms, to minimise personal and organisational risk.

E-Professionalism among Dental Students from Malaysia and Finland

The increased use of social media in dentistry is associated with both advantages and disadvantages. A new form of professionalism, “e-professionalism,” has emerged. It includes an online persona and online information in any format that displays cues to professional identity, attitudes, and behaviors. The objective was to explore the perceptions of Malaysian and Finnish dental students on e-professionalism. A survey of 613 Malaysian and Finnish students was performed. The main variables assessed were posting of objectionable or inappropriate content among students, attitudes towards unprofessional online content, perceived online presence, contacts with patients and faculty members on social media, and concerns about social media use. The prevalence of posting clearly unprofessional content was not high among dental students. Revealing information of patients was most common content of clear unprofessionalism. Students from Malaysia contacted patients and faculty members more actively in social media than students in Finland (73.6% of students in Malaysia and 11.8% in Finland had invited faculty members to be “friends”). Malaysian students were more concerned and more likely to react to inappropriate content on social media. Attitude of dental students towards social media use in dentistry were very positive in both countries. Students agreed that guiding patients online is a new responsibility for dentists in the digital age (86.4% of students in Malaysia and 73.4% in Finland). The findings indicate the existence of both benefits and dangers of social media on e-professionalism among students. There is a need to include robust digital professionalism awareness training for students.

Social media use, professional behaviors online, and perceptions toward e-professionalism among dental students

OBJECTIVES

This study aimed to assess self-reported social media use, professional behaviors online, and perceptions on e-professionalism while using social media among dental students in two Southeast Asian universities.

METHODS

This cross-sectional study involved clinical dental students at University of Malaya (UM), Malaysia (n = 150) and Airlangga University (AU), Indonesia (n = 150). A questionnaire was distributed using Google Form via WhatsApp network. Data were analyzed using descriptive, Chi-square, and Wilcoxon rank-sum tests.

RESULTS

All students responded (n = 300) and reported as active social media users. Majority spent ≥ 1 h a day on social media and checked their social media > 6 times a day. Most commonly used social media accounts were Instagram (UM: 92.7%, AU: 95.3%) and Facebook (UM: 94.7%, AU: 59.3%). A small proportion of UM and AU students admitted to posting clinical photographs, patient records, and comments about patients on social media. UM students had significantly better scores in terms of their professionalism behaviors on maintaining the integrity of the profession compared to AU students (p < 0.001). Meanwhile AU students had better scores than UM students on behaviors related to upholding colleagues' professional image on social media (p = 0.421). Most students in UM and AU shared similar positive perceptions toward online professionalism behavior statements. Majority reported concerns over unprofessional posts online.

CONCLUSION

Self-reported behaviors online sometimes contradict with students' perceptions and concerns about being unprofessional online. There is a need for clearer educational guidelines on how to instill e-professionalism values and behaviors among dental students.

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 Usage among Dental Undergraduate Students-A Comparative Study

Social media use among students has infiltrated into dental education and offers benefits but may also cause problems. The aim of this study was to explore and compare current social media usage among dental undergraduate students from two countries—Malaysia and Finland. A self-administered structured online questionnaire was used. WhatsApp, YouTube, Instagram, Facebook and Snapchat were the services that were most familiar to the respondents from both countries. There were differences between the students from the two countries among the most preferred platforms. The most frequently used applications were WhatsApp (91.1% of students in Malaysia and 96.1% in Finland used it very frequently) and Instagram (74.3% of students in Malaysia and 70.0% in Finland used it very frequently). Students in Malaysia spent significantly more hours per week using the platforms as study tools than students in Finland. Over 80% of the Finnish dental students reported that lack of knowledge was not an issue in social media usage, while 85% of Malaysian students felt that lack of knowledge prevented them from using social media platforms frequently. The findings offer evidence that dental students used social media extensively.

Development and validation of scale for measuring attitudes towards e-professionalism among medical and dental students: SMePROF-S scale

BACKGROUND

Social media permeated everyday life and consequently it brought some changes to behaviour of health professionals. New form of professionalism emerged called e-professionalism depicting professional behaviour while using social media. There are a number of studies conducted in the past several years measuring behaviour of different populations of health professionals on social media and social media sites. Many studies have investigated aspects of e-professionalism of medical or dental students as future health professionals, but there are no validated instruments made for assessing attitude towards e-professionalism of those two populations. Objective of this paper is to validate a newly developed scale for measuring attitudes towards e-professionalism among medical and dental students.

METHODS

The original 32-item scale was developed and administered to 411 medical students (RR 69%), and 287 dental students (RR 49.7%). Exploratory factor analysis was used to investigate the existence of underlying factors. Principal component analysis was used as an extraction method with oblimin as selected oblique rotation method. Cronbach's alpha was used to assess reliability.

RESULTS

Total of 698 student answers entered analysis. The final scale had 24 items that formed seven factors named: ethical aspects, dangers of social media, excluding physicians, freedom of choice, importance of professionalism, physicians in the digital age, negative consequences. Cronbach's alpha indicating scale reliability was .72. Reliability conducted on each factor ranged from .570 to .877.

CONCLUSIONS

The scale measures seven factors of attitude towards e-professionalism and exhibits satisfactory reliability. Based on insights from validation, some possible improvements are suggested.

Preserving professional identities, behaviors, and values in digital professionalism using social networking sites; a systematic review

BACKGROUND

Despite a rapid rise of use of social media in medical disciplines, uncertainty prevails among healthcare professionals for providing medical content on social media. There are also growing concerns about unprofessional behaviors and blurring of professional identities that are undermining digital professionalism. This review tapped the literature to determine the impact of social media on medical professionalism and how can professional identities and values be maintained in digital era.

METHODS

We searched the databases of PubMed, ProQuest, ScienceDirect, Web of Science, and EBSCO host using (professionalism AND (professionalism OR (professional identity) OR (professional behaviors) OR (professional values) OR (professional ethics))) AND ((social media) AND ((social media) OR (social networking sites) OR Twitter OR Facebook)) AND (health professionals). The research questions were based on sample (health professionals), phenomenon of interest (digital professionalism), design, evaluation and research type. We screened initial yield of titles using pre-determined inclusion and exclusion criteria and selected a group of articles for qualitative analysis. We used the Biblioshiny® software package for the generation of popular concepts as clustered keywords.

RESULTS

Our search yielded 44 articles with four leading themes; marked rise in the use of social media by healthcare professionals and students, negative impact of social media on digital professionalism, blurring of medical professional values, behaviors, and identity in the digital era, and limited evidence for teaching and assessing digital professionalism. A high occurrence of violation of patient privacy, professional integrity and cyberbullying were identified. Our search revealed a paucity of existing guidelines and policies for digital professionalism that can safeguard healthcare professionals, students and patients.

CONCLUSIONS

Our systematic review reports a significant rise of unprofessional behaviors in social media among healthcare professionals. We could not identify the desired professional behaviors and values essential for digital identity formation. The boundaries between personal and professional practices are mystified in digital professionalism. These findings call for potential educational ramifications to resurrect professional virtues, behaviors and identities of healthcare professionals and students.

The impact of social media on dental practice promotion and professionalism amongst general dental practitioners and specialists in KSA

OBJECTIVE

This study primarily assesses the social media use patterns of general dental practitioners and specialists in KSA. To fulfil its secondary objective, the study evaluates the social media preferences of the selected cohort for promoting their practice, and their extent of professionalism while using social media.

METHOD

An electronic questionnaire was developed and administered to all registered dentists and specialists in KSA through the Saudi Dental Association platform. The questionnaire comprised closed-ended items with a choice of predefined answers that covered demographics, reasons for using social media, and the ways in which social networking might affect professionalism.

RESULTS

A total of 238 general dental practitioners and specialists from various age groups answered the questionnaire. The data revealed that 41% of the respondents used social media equally for personal, professional, and business purposes. Instagram was the most commonly used social media platform for dental practice promotion, and also regarded as the most powerful platform by all respondents (p = 0.0009). Thirty-four percent of the respondents rarely posted their own clinical cases on social media. However, a significant difference was observed amongst the specialities (p = 0.01).

CONCLUSION

Inappropriate use of social media can cause ethical issues regarding patient confidentiality and data protection that may lead to negative perceptions of dental professionalism. Therefore, guidelines and policies should be established to regulate dental practitioners' use of social media for sharing clinical data.

Identifying Risk Factors Affecting the Usage of Digital and Social Media: A Preliminary Qualitative Study in the Dental Profession and Dental Education

AIMS

This study aimed to identify the risk factors of using DSM to provide an insight into the inherent implications this has on dental professionals in practice and trainee professionals' education.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Twenty-one participants (10 dental professionals and 11 undergraduate and postgraduate dental students) participated in this qualitative study using semi-structured interviews in a dental school in the UK. The interviews were analysed and categorised into themes, some of which were identified from previous literature (e.g., privacy and psychological risks) and others emerged from the data (e.g., deceptive and misleading information).

RESULTS

The thematic analysis of interview transcripts identified nine perceived risk themes. Three themes were associated with the use of DSM in the general context, and six themes were related to the use of DSM in professional and education context.

CONCLUSIONS

This study provided evidence to understand the risk factors of using DSM in dental education and the profession, but the magnitude of these risks on the uptake and usefulness of DSM needs to be assessed.

The role of Twitter in dental education: A systematic review

BACKGROUND

The rapid growth of social media in recent years has highlighted uses beyond their original purposes, particularly in education. Twitter is a free, open access social network with high potential to enhance interactive learning. The use of Twitter in dental education has been far less investigated; therefore, the objective of this systematic review is to explore the current uses and to examine the impact of Twitter on dental education, and to analyze and predict potential models of Twitter for future application in dental training, education, and teaching.

METHODS

Five databases (PubMed, Embase, Medline, Scopus, and Web of Science) and the gray literature using keywords related to Twitter and dental education were searched. Articles were screened for inclusion, and two researchers independently extracted the data using a standardized data collection template and analyzed the quality of the included articles using the Medical Education Research Study Quality Instrument.

RESULTS

Of the 121 articles identified from the initial search, 68 remained after duplications were removed. Article screening removed 61 articles leaving 7 eligible for inclusion and data extraction. Five studies were cross-sectional and two were cohort studies, and all involved survey-based designs with 998 respondents in total. Quality assessment gave a score range between 8 and 12.5 out of a total of 18 points.

CONCLUSIONS

Our study supports the potential for Twitter as a useful learning tool in dental education. Features, including the open access nature of Twitter as well as the low level of ads and free registration, make it appealing to students as well as a useful tool for interactive learning. However, there are significant barriers to its use, including privacy and concerns about professionalism. Higher quality and greater impact research is required.

Exploring the impact of digital professionalism awareness training on dental undergraduate students

INTRODUCTION

Since the publication of GDC guidance, there have been small, but rising numbers of Fitness to Practise (FtP) cases made against qualified dentists, relating to the use of social media. Prior to graduation, dental students currently receive training in the appropriate use of social media, but more work is needed to determine the most effective methods do this. The aim of this study is to explore the impact of the digital professionalism awareness training provided at one UK-based institution.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

In year 2, a "brown envelope" is compiled using an online publicly available Facebook profile search for every student. All year 2 to 5 dental undergraduate students at one UK dental school who had completed the "brown envelope" were invited to participate in focus groups to examine its impact on behaviour change. A qualitative framework analysis method was applied to the transcripts.

RESULTS

Eleven dental undergraduate students participated in two focus groups. All students had experienced the "brown envelope" intervention. Four main themes emerged, including: a clear expression of dental student autonomy and rejection of regulation; that online activity in dentistry is different to medicine; that the intervention is useful and changed online behaviour; and constructive suggestions for improving training.

CONCLUSION

The interactive "brown envelope" intervention for digital professionalism awareness training was well received and appeared to result in actionable behavioural change on student profiles (eg alterations in privacy settings or restricting access to their own "friends lists").

Hashtag, like or tweet: a qualitative study on the use of social media among dentists in London

Aim To explore dentists' perceptions and use of social media generally and in relation to their professional careers, together with its implications for professionalism.Methods Semi-structured interviews were conducted with dentists in their early, mid- and late careers working in a range of settings based in London. Participants were purposively sampled via gatekeeper organisations, supported by snowball sampling. Interviews were audio-recorded, transcribed verbatim and data were analysed using thematic analysis.Results Eighteen dentists working across a range of career stages and care settings were interviewed. Participants were aware of the risks and benefits of using social media and expressed ways of balancing them. A typology of social media user types in the dental profession emerged from the data, comprising avoiders, secondary users, occasional users, observers, seekers, active and cautious, limited, engaged users and deleters. Participants reported an awareness of the impact of maintaining professionalism when using social media.Conclusion Among the participant population sampled, the risks and benefits of general and professional social media were discussed and, in some cases, these overlapped. The findings suggest that dentists are aware of the risks and benefits and employ techniques to balance risk. There were a range of social media user types that varied by characteristics, use in learning and the influences that change their use. It was evident that social media plays an important role in communication between those dentists engaging with available platforms. This area requires further research into professionalism and social media in dentistry.

The relationship between Facebook behaviour and e-professionalism: A questionnaire-based cross-sectional study among Greek dental students

INTRODUCTION

The social media attitude of health science students might affect patients' opinion about the health profession and have negative impact on e-professionalism. The aim of this study is to investigate the behaviour of Greek dental students on Facebook, focusing on potentially unprofessional posts and the online student-patient relationship.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Five hundred and twelve dental students in Greece answered an anonymous, 23-item questionnaire including multiple-choice questions about various topics, including Facebook profile settings and content shared by dental students, student-patient relationship via Facebook; and students' perception about the impact of their online behaviour.

RESULTS

93.2% of responders had a Facebook profile and 80.5% admitted that their online attitude might affect patients' opinion about dental profession. However, 71.7% posted pictures from holidays, 41.5% from nightclubs, and 26.2% photographs wearing swimwear/underwear, while 12.8% expressed online political party predilection. One quarter of students in clinical years were Facebook friends with patients and 58% and 30% of them had online discussion about topics related or not to dentistry, respectively, while 6.8% of dental students had posted defamatory comments about the dental school, faculty members or academic staff on Facebook.

DISCUSSION

In accordance with studies in other countries, most Greek dental students had a Facebook profile and, although the majority realised the impact of Facebook behaviour on e-professionalism, a considerable percentage posted unprofessional content.

CONCLUSION

Dental students might fall into pitfalls when it comes to e-professionalism. As social media are becoming an integral part of life, there is need to include e-professionalism in dental education curriculum.

Sensationalist social media usage by doctors and dentists during Covid-19

INTRODUCTION

Many doctors and dentists took to social media to raise alarm and/or express professional opinion, dissatisfaction, anger and/or incredulity associated with the Covid-19 pandemic. Although most of these social media posts involved practitioners from abroad, this article explores whether they would attract fitness to practise investigations had they been posted by UK-based medical and dental practitioners. In particular, it asks whether such conduct comes into conflict with the existing professional standards issued by the General Medical Council (GMC) and the General Dental Council (GDC). It questions also whether those guidelines should be updated and/or further clarified in view of the extraordinary circumstances posed by the pandemic.

METHOD

An exploratory study was conducted using sensationalist pandemic-related social media posts by doctors and dentists discovered during the first half of 2020 (n = 11). The contents were analysed qualitatively using documentary analysis using coding terms based on the professional standards on social media published by both the GMC and the GDC. The codes generated common and recurring themes that were used to structure discussion.

FINDINGS

This study provides a partial insight as to the likely motivations of doctors and dentists to use social media in a manner that may not necessarily lend well to the professional standards expected. In a majority of instances, doctors and dentists who posted social media material with a sensationalist outlook tended to focus on single-issue campaigns pertaining to specific aspects of the Covid-19 pandemic. These issues included controversial commentary on acute shortages of personal protective equipment and attendant occupational risks to clinical staff to Covid-19 infection; criticisms directed towards regulatory bodies in the handling of the pandemic; and professional advice to the general public which was later found to be inaccurate.

CONCLUSIONS

Social media offer opportunities for healthcare professionals to play a constructive role in raising awareness, disseminating information, and promoting solidarity in the management of the Covid-19 pandemic. However, doctors and dentists must carefully consider the ethical and professional pitfalls involved in sensationalist social media posts. The GMC and the GDC should, at the same time, regularly update and clarify their social media guidance in response to major global events like a pandemic as well as advances in social media technology.