Precarious Healthcare Professionalism in the Age of Social Media

Abstract

Historically, healthcare professions have occupied a unique position in society, bound by the terms of the `social contract'. However, the ubiquity of social media, the blurring of the offline/online distinction and the ready online availability of personal information challenges the practice of professionalism. A growing body of research reveals that the online activities of current student health professionals, such as their social media posts, has been found to be unprofessional by breaching patient confidentiality or posting inappropriate content. These studies mainly conceptualise these lapses in professionalism as evidence of latent deficiencies in the current generation of healthcare students that can be rectified through the regulatory actions of their professional bodies. This book chapter uses precarity to present an alternative viewpoint on the impact that social media is having on the practice of healthcare professionalism. It posits that the theory of precarity can offer further explanation for why and how social media disrupts healthcare professionalism in the 21st century.