Doctors could be threatening their confidential relationship with patients by using Facebook, experts have said.
A survey of medics in France has revealed that most of the 73% with a profile on the social networking site displayed enough personal information to be identified.
Information given out on the site included information on current job titles, which was displayed by 55%, and details of university medical training, provided by 59%.
Many of the 400 trainee doctors who responded to the survey had given out their real name and date of birth, and 91% had put up a photo of themselves.
While 61% thought they had changed their privacy settings to prevent people seeing most of their details, 17% were unsure and those who had joined Facebook less than a year ago were less likely to limit access to their profile.
Read more from the Press Association on Management in Practice.
Of course, if they don’t discuss their cases or patients, there’s no real risk. There are plenty of things doctors can discuss without dipping their toes in the very dangerous waters of breaching patient confidentiality.