This new study suggests yes:
“The blogging community has made an effort to set standards for medical bloggers, but unfortunately, professional organizations and medical educators haven’t come out with rules for handling the new medium . . . Medical blogs are a great opportunity to learn about the health care system, but they need to know some bloggers have unprofessional conduct, although that doesn’t represent the medical profession as a whole. The issue is the risk of losing patient trust. We want to maintain that.”
I’m glad that physician blogs are inching their way into the medical literature. Good to see them finally join the party. Better late than never my friends.
Two issues seem to be of concern: blogging about patients and product endorsement.
I agree that physician blogs that write about patients do need to be held to a higher than normal blog standard. Mainstream media and the academic medical community is just starting the grasp the power of medical blogging, and doesn’t quite know what to make of it.
It seems that medical blogging’s greatest strength – giving an unfettered view “behind the scenes” of medicine – is its biggest controversy. I simply choose to stay away from this by not writing about patients, but I am aware that the most interesting medical blogs are those that speak freeing about patient encounters.
Regarding advertising, it’s commonplace on blogs. Should physician blogs be required to disclose conflicts of interest? Should blogs be held to the same standard as medical journals?
I say no. It’s just a blog, lighten up. But for those who care about such things, my policy regarding product endorsements has always been contained in my disclaimer, written in no uncertain terms:
THE INCLUSION OF THIRD PARTY ADVERTISEMENTS DOES NOT CONSTITUTE AN ENDORSEMENT, GUARANTEE, WARRANTY, OR RECOMMENDATION OF, AND THE AUTHOR MAKES NO REPRESENTATIONS AND/OR WARRANTIES ABOUT, ANY PRODUCT OR SERVICE CONTAINED THEREIN.
There you have it.
