Professionalism and Adolescent Psychiatry in the Digital Age

摘要

Background: The digital revolution has changed healthcare forever. In adolescent psychiatry, the infrastructure of our practice - billing, record-keeping and communication with patients and colleagues - is increasingly occurring electronically and online. Adolescent psychiatrists are likely to interface with technology in their practice, in part because of the high prevalence of use of social media among their patients and also among practitioners. Online professionalism means adhering to the clinical, ethical and legal principles of professional behavior while communicating via the Internet Due to the unique characteristics of digital technology, professionalism breaches involving technology are easier to commit and have the potential for a broader impact than communication with traditional media. Physicians' lapses in professionalism online have been documented by the media, researchers and state medical boards, and physicians have increasingly faced various kinds of censure for such lapses. Professional guidelines are emerging; however, these documents do not always provide straightforward answers to complex clinical scenarios.