Social media policies at US medical schools

Background/Purpose: Today's medical students are learning in a social media era in which patient confidentiality is at risk yet schools’ social media policies have not been elucidated. The purpose of this study is to describe the presence of medical schools on top social media sites and to identify whether student policies for these schools explicitly address social media use. Method: Websites of all 132 accredited US medical schools were independently assessed by two investigators for their presence (as of March 31, 2010) on the most common social networking and microblogging sites (Facebook and Twitter) and their publicly available policies addressing online social networking. Key features from these policies are described. Results: 100% (n=132) of US medical schools had websites and 95.45% (126/132) had any Facebook presence. 25.76% (34/132) had official medical school pages, 71.21% (94/132) had student groups, and 54.55% (72/132) had alumni groups on Facebook. 10.6% of medical schools (14/132) had Twitter accounts. 128 of 132 medical schools (96.97%) had student guidelines or policies publicly available online. 13 of these 128 schools (10.16%) had guidelines/policies explicitly mentioning social media. 38.46% (5/13) of these guidelines included statements that defined what is forbidden, inappropriate, or impermissible under any circumstances, or mentioned strongly discouraged online behaviors. 53.85% (7/13) encouraged thoughtful and responsible social media use. Conclusions: Medical schools and their students are using social media. Almost all US medical schools have a Facebook presence, yet most do not have policies addressing student online social networking behavior. While social media use rises, policy informing appropriate conduct in medical schools lags behind. Established policies at some medical schools can provide a blueprint for others to adopt and adapt

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We present a case of recurrent abduction deficit in setting of chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy

More Than Skin Deep

We present a case of an elderly patient with multiple medical problems with a painful right third nerve palsy and progressive vision loss. Diagnosis of perineural spread of squamous cell carcinoma was challenging due to his concomitant medical issues limiting diagnositic testing. In many cases diagnosis is further delayed as patients are unaware of prior dermatologic history

Caesalpinia crista seeds-in vivo screening of hepatoprotective efficacy against CCL4 induced hepatotoxicity

Ethanolic extract of Caesalpinia crista(commonly known as Latakaranja) seeds, belonging to family Caesalpiniaceae, was evaluated for hepatoprotective efficacy in Wistar rats against hepatic injury carbon induced tetrachloride. The toxicant CCl4(1:1 mixture in olive oil)was administered to rats (3 mL/kg)i.p., twice a week for 4 weeks to induce liver toxicity. The ethanolic extract of seeds of Caesalpinia cristawas administered at doses of 150 and 300 mg/kg p.o., daily for 4weeks and Silymarin (100 mg/kg p.o.) was used as a standard drug. Biochemical parameters such as serum alanine transaminase (ALT), aspartate aminotransferase (AST), alkaline phosphatase (ALP) and total bilirubin were assessed and histopathological studies of the liver were performed to evaluate the hepatoprotective efficacy of the extract. Treatment of rats administered with C. crista seed extract showed a significant decrease in CCl4-induced elevated serum enzyme levels as well as a significant increase in total protein levels that was lowered by the hepatotoxic compound used and the results were comparable to Silymarin