“Social media can be a double-edged sword,” says Elizabeth A. Kitsis, M.D., M.B.E., director of bioethics education at Einstein. “They can provide personalized medical education for patients, but great attention must be paid to maintaining the principles of professionalism, such as privacy and confidentiality of the physician-patient relationship.”
A two-year grant from the Institute on Medicine as a Profession and the Josiah Macy Jr. Foundation is helping Einstein teach faculty members and medical students how to use social media appropriately, effectively and professionally. Einstein is one of four medical schools in the United States chosen for this grant. Dr. Kitsis is principal investigator; her co-investigator is Dr. Martha S. Grayson, Einstein’s senior associate dean for medical education.