Affiliations: [a] Valley Hospital Medical Center, Las Vegas, NV 89106, USA | [b] Nevada Orthopedic & Spine Center, Las Vegas, NV 89128, USA
Correspondence:
[*]
Corresponding author: Trevor Call, Valley Hospital Medical Center, 620 Shadow Lane, Las Vegas, NV 89106, USA. Tel.: +1 801 709 9864; Fax: +1 702 388 8431; E-mail:trevor.call@nv.touro.edu
Abstract: BACKGROUND: Unprofessional conduct is detrimental to the Orthopaedic Surgery profession.
Currently, no formal guidelines exist to define online professionalism other
than the protection of patient confidentiality.
OBJECTIVE: This study will extract a random but statistically significant number of
practicing Orthopaedic Surgeons and review their online postings.
METHODS: We observed the Internet content posted by 1,021 Orthopaedic Surgeons that
were randomly selected from the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons
2013 member directory. Each surgeon's name was entered into the Google.com
search engine and on Social Media sites including Facebook.com, Twitter.com,
LinkedIn.com, and YouTube.com. The content was evaluated and recorded where
it was encountered. Unprofessional content was recorded and reviewed by a
panel for appropriateness.
RESULTS: Of the 1,021 Orthopaedic Surgeons sampled, 82% have professional
websites, 4% have professional blogs, 21% have professional Facebook
accounts, 14% have professional Twitter accounts, 26% have
professional LinkedIn accounts, and 14% have professional YouTube
accounts. Unprofessional content was identified in 3.5% of all surgeons
sampled who have some form of content on the Internet.
CONCLUSION: Every Orthopaedic Surgeon should be aware of the content posted on the
Internet. Our recommendation is for surgeons to routinely evaluate content
posted on publically available venues for professionalism.
Keywords: Orthopaedic, professionalism, Internet, website, social media
