Social Licence of Vets

[Pearlsacarolsinger]

People working in education have been known to lose their jobs after posting about their work on social media. I would expect the same to happen with vets, unless the post was in very general terms

 

[Apizz2019]

ohh thank you so much, I wasn't aware of this. For anyone also not aware, the GMC and the NMWC have these

https://www.gmc-uk.org/concerns/hearings-and-decisions

https://www.nmc.org.uk/concerns-nurses-midwives/hearings/

I am glad the RCVS employs equal transparency in that regard at least

I didn't know this. Thank you for sharing!

 

[Keith_Beef]

The problem is that common sense isn't a flower that grows in everyone's garden

Brilliant! I'm going to steal that and use it at every opportunity!

 

[HopOnTrot]

I’m going to report you to RSoBSP

Royal Society of Boiler Servicing Police

We have a secret Facebook page

Firstly, if it’s a new boiler, not having it serviced will invalidate the manufacturer warranty.

As just a layperson who happens to have married into the business, they check that they’re running safely, that combustion is correct (so you are burning the right amount of fuel), moving parts get checked, they get cleaned, on oil the nozzles and hoses usually require replacement every year or they can fail and they can get quite sooted up.

It’s definitely important as DH does ours even though he doesn’t get paid and it’s due on Xmas Eve

Plus if your boiler breaks down, who are we going to go to first, the customer who services it every year or the person who hasn’t had it serviced in four years? Obviously that’s the sort of paragraph I wouldn’t put on social media

 

[FieldOrnaments]

If I vanish, it's because I'm desperately searching for the number of the company that fitted mine, then......

 

[Beausmate]

With regard to acceptable behaviour of professionals on social media, I think comments need to be approached as if they are in a real world scenario. So, if someone was speaking to a co-worker, or customer, or just a random passer-by, using the same tone and language as in their comments, how would they be perceived? If you are ranting and swearing in your job, after a reasonable request from a member of the public, are you going to be "having a chat" with your boss later on? Probably.

Basically, if you are carrying on on SM and you are magically brought into physical being whilst carrying on, how are people going to react to you?

 

[Denali]

I am so confused. When did it become okay for a business with a social media presence to express personal opinions? Call me old fashioned but politics and religion shouldn’t be discussed outside of your close circle.


Professionals should be careful on social media. If they also have a personal page, they need to keep it neutral.

I fired a trainer who was amazing because she supported Marilyn Little and her bloody mouth horses. I didn’t make a dent in her income but in some industries it’s enough to make change.

 

[Dave's Mam]

I don't think it is correct for a vet to make personal comments about someone who isn't even known to them or to turn followers to attack someone, especially if the followers find the wrong business & leave loads of negative reviews.

 

[Denali]

On the flip side we have people in the US not wanting to call out abuse because “it would be bad.” Ie they would be ostracized from their discipline. What’s wild is some people equate it to whistle blowers who speak against the government.

So they let horses get abused so they can continue to ride with who they want. I wish my brain would allow for that kind of disconnect

 

[FieldOrnaments]

Every individual person has freedom of speech but organisations with buying and legislating power, not to mention moral obligations to people and animals, should remain impartial imo (e.g. vets could post general information on why riding in a properly fitted saddle is important due to correctly distributing weight; they couldn't start slating named individuals for riding in ill fitting tack, for instance; they could say it is beneficial for horses to not participate in intense load bearing activities until their growth plates have fused; they couldn't shame certain riders for participating in two year old classes.) Similarly, it would be acceptable for a doctor's surgery to post information on why limiting the sugar in your diet is important, but not to shame a named shop for putting racks of confectionary near the tills. It is knowing the line between imparting information and educating laypeople, versus pushing a certain viewpoint as they have much more influence due to their status. Individuals can do either or but bodies acting in a professional way should limit themselves to the former only.

 

[Gamebird]

Please keep this generalised people …. For hopefully obvious reasons.

Please also refrain from trying to take it into the realms of vet bashing.

Vets are human beings and you will get the whole spectrum of professional competence as any other industry. Vets will also have an array of personal strengths and weaknesses in addition to a range of mental health issues.

So I have a few questions:

1. Should professional social media sites/pages also include personal/amateur exploits?

2. What help/support/guidelines do vets receive in relation to social media use during their initial vet training and ongoing practice from the governing body?

3. What is the RCVS role/scope in overseeing social media use of their vets currently and is it adequate?

Would be good if any vets in the room could offer general thoughts

Ooooft. This is a massively tricky one! I have been in the profession for 25 years. For what it's worth I am not a massive social media person in my personal life. I am on FB, nothing else. I have around 300 FB 'friends'. Actually very few from my local area, several from far and wide across the country (world) that I probably wouldn't keep in touch with otherwise. Most that I've had some connection with eg. working, people I work racing with (although a lot of them are youngsters so they are far more about snapchat than FB), people I team-chase with, people I know from Uni etc. I regularly remove people I am not comfortable with knowing my goings on! I put some horse stuff and some of my 'adventure' stuff on FB, but very very little of my actual life. Looking back on FB memories my postings have definitely reduced in any sort of life content over the years. All of which is a long winded way of saying that I am really not very comfortable being 'out there' on social media, I hate people locally knowing what I'm up to, and struggle to understand why people would want to post intricate details of their lives either to a couple of thousand 'friends', or completely publicly.

I have had one small issue when something benign I posted about one of my dogs was screenshotted by a 'friend' and sent to a non-'friend' (someone who was very much not a friend at all, and whom I did not wish to have any knowledge of my personal life!), which was a valuable reminder that even within my very locked-down FB I should never post anything personal as there is nothing to stop it being shared beyond my security settings. I had another small backlash when I shared a photo of a horrendously overweight RIHS winner - I shared the post from the official RIHS account in despair and frustration that obesity was still being rewarded, especially given the numbers of horses I treat and sadly often PTS for obesity-related disorders. That got me a lot of backlash on my personal FB account from surprising quarters standing up for the judging, the obese show-horse and rider. I still stand by my point, but I don't need the hassle of defending myself so won't be having any opinions in public in future!

If HHO were not relatively anonymous I would not post anything on here ever - vet-related or not. If you could be bothered you could probably chose to go back years and cross match event results etc. and find out my identity - I have been on here as long as anyone, and we probably weren't quite so careful 15-20 years ago. I tend to assume that nowhere and nothing is entirely anonymous now, thus am very careful with my postings and opinions on here too.

With regards to your questions:
1. Professional pages should be largely just that. I think a little colour is useful for promotional and client-bonding purposes (eg. 'congratulations to our vet XX who jumped a double clear at Osberton 3* this weekend' or a 'meet of staff' type post, or 'vet XX is undertaking a charity skydive/triathlon - here's a link should you wish to donate'). All of that stuff helps vets be seen as people and does nothing to diminish them personally. Horse related/competing ones will probably actually enhance a vet's reputation as clients do love a vet who is out there doing it, especially at a reasonable level. But in general I think that the situation you refer to would only be an issue in a one-man practice. I would say that the cross-over there is probably extremely inadvisable, but ultimately up to the vet to decide what they wish to share.
2. For me, none. I left vet school without even an email address, so it wasn't relevant. I would need to ask the new grads now what they get/got. Ongoing - obviously both my company and the RCVS have social media policies, which extend to private media.
3. It's a very reactive role. There is no patrolling as such, and it is essentially reactive rather than proactive, reliant on notification from public/other professionals. In relation to the much-discussed case I am not sure really whether anything said should have been the remit of the RCVS. I think you really have to be breaching societal norms eg. racism, sexism, illegal behaviours and the much-quoted 'disgraceful conduct' to be pulled up by the RCVS as it currently stands. I do think that a lot of it is self-regulating. People have a choice of vet, and I would imagine would do some internet research if they were thinking of changing, so being very blatantly at one end or the other of the social media spectrum will land you a self-selected client base.

 

[Birker2020]

Social media guidance for vets and vet nurses published

The College has recently published new guidance for veterinary surgeons and veterinary nurses on the use of social media and online forums.

www.rcvs.org.uk

 

[Gamebird]

Social media guidance for vets and vet nurses published

The College has recently published new guidance for veterinary surgeons and veterinary nurses on the use of social media and online forums.

www.rcvs.org.uk

I think that was the original news item for when social media advice was originally added in 2014, though it does get updated. Strictly it means that vets cannot post on HHO without also identifying ourselves by name, or using the 'anonymous' function for group posting on FB. However I am prepared to take the risk o here, given that I also self-govern and don't give individual vet advice, or get involved with anything controversial.

 

[Upthecreek]

I think the main thing that vets, and indeed any professionals, need to be aware of if they choose to combine their professional and personal lives on social media, is that people will judge them and form an opinion of them based on everything they post. Personally I would not choose to use the professional services of anyone who is rude to people on social media or someone who posts their opinions as facts on a subject that they are not a professional in on their business Facebook page.

 

[Wishfilly]

That was my first thought. Are his activities OK because it's more traditional media?

What about James Herriott writing about his exploits. People would have known who he was and presumably recognised incidents and characters he was monetising.

That, by the looks of it, is now specifically against the rules- you are required to maintain patient confidentiality. That said, I imagine a lot of what is written in these sorts of books is an amalgamation of different events, so hopefully no individual recognised themselves!

 

[Wishfilly]

People working in education have been known to lose their jobs after posting about their work on social media. I would expect the same to happen with vets, unless the post was in very general terms

I get why those of us in education are held to high standards, but it does sometimes seem like we are held to higher standards than everyone else! Obviously young people are impressionable, and we should be careful, but I do think others in socially responsible positions should be held to similar standards, and in many cases a proportion of someone's followers on social media will be under 18.

 

[BronsonNutter]

We do share some 'personal' things on our clinic FB page, but the nice fluffy stuff, like me going to the RC champs, a bunch of us managing to do a fun ride together, other vets doing sports events etc. They're always very popular with clients and are the sorts of posts that get the most engagement back - comments, photos of them also at said fun ride etc. compared to some of the clinical posts, which although interesting and good learning tools for people, don't always result in much in the way of replies.

I share certain ones of our clinic FB posts onto my personal FB page, and occasional 'shouldn't happen to a vet' type short stories which are completely anonymised, but that's about it. Other than a few closed vet-only groups theres only one 'vetty' group I am in on FB (Equine Repro) because it's quite interesting seeing what they're up to stud-work wise over the pond, and it is heavily moderated. I couldn't cope with being in some of the kissing spines/PSSM/ulcers etc groups - not even for a laugh, they'd drive me mad!

Actively try to avoid any conflict on our clinic FB page - it's just asking for stress trying to moderate replies, which we don't really need.

With regards to social media training, I didn't really have any at uni, other than that you shouldn't share info/photos etc of pets without permission. I always get texted/emailed consent from an owner before using their horse's picture and story for FB case studies, just in case. There was an RCVS disciplinary case regarding someone sharing a photo of a dog's paw on social media - just the paw, I think - which got them into trouble after the owner spotted it.

 

[DabDab]

With regard to acceptable behaviour of professionals on social media, I think comments need to be approached as if they are in a real world scenario. So, if someone was speaking to a co-worker, or customer, or just a random passer-by, using the same tone and language as in their comments, how would they be perceived? If you are ranting and swearing in your job, after a reasonable request from a member of the public, are you going to be "having a chat" with your boss later on? Probably.

Basically, if you are carrying on on SM and you are magically brought into physical being whilst carrying on, how are people going to react to you?

Yes this is my view too.
I have absolutely no problem with a variety of professionals posting about their profession/professional subject, but if you choose to do that then that platform becomes an extension of your workplace. And as part of your workplace you should behave on that platform with the same professional standards as in a physical place of work.

There are many examples I can think of, of medical professionals with a social media presence that make a very valuable contribution in the social media space highlighting areas where research is lacking and countering some of the utter garbage proliferated by self-styled health gurus. But they all (the ones I'm thinking of) act professionally while doing so.

 

[suestowford]

Professionals of any sort generally aren't rude to strangers. When you come across one who is, it's a nasty surprise.

 

[Jeef Perky]

I routinely check out people's online presence before doing business with them. If their business or personal pages are trashy, argumentative, or controversial (whether I agree with them or not), I give them a wide berth unless I have no other alternative.

If your livelihood depends on being discreet and non-offensive, don't be either of those things online. If you simply can't resist ranting and raving, do so under an alternate identity with good enough opsec that it doesn't lead directly back to you. Expect that you'll be exposed anyway if you are annoying enough.

Forum admins for example can see a lot of stuff including email and IP addresses, so for the love of Epona don't sign up with your work address and then act like an idiot. Don't assume forum admins will protect your information, either, especially when your drama starts getting them in trouble. The lawyers are the only winners, no matter whose side they're on.

If your professional organization has a social media policy, abide by the spirit of it and don't go exploiting loopholes or pushing boundaries. Don't embarass your peers and don't bring your profession into disrepute. Whistleblowing is the only exception, and only if you lawyer up beforehand and don't mind becoming unemployable as soon as you open your mouth.

There is no such thing as complete privacy -- as soon as anyone else can see it, you may as well assume it's public for the entire world to see. It's a lot easier to avoid being a jerk in the first place than to try and claw back things you later regret posting. The internet never forgets. Yes, reputation management consultants can, for a price, help hide your online stupidity from casual searches, but they can't scrub it completely no matter how much you spend.

If you're a narcissist with a band of rabid fans that defend you at all costs, of course you can feel free to disregard this advice. Just don't get too surprised when equally nutty people dedicate their lives to mocking, trolling, doxing, and reporting you for lulz.

 

[Fjord]

I like the idea of the 'fluffy' social side on a vet page, like BronsonNutter says. I think it makes you feel like you 'know' the person who's coming out to you a bit more. Also, anonymising issues, such as the importance of weight management and laminitis, but definitely not naming customers. Unless there's something really interesting, and the owner consents to photo being used, then that would be fine.

Opinions are different, I think it's best to keep them off of a company page, otherwise you risk alienating a proportion of your customers. Maybe ok if it's calling out really bad behaviour, but that's just reminding people to be decent.

 

[Maddie Moo]

I like the idea of the 'fluffy' social side on a vet page, like BronsonNutter says. I think it makes you feel like you 'know' the person who's coming out to you a bit more. Also, anonymising issues, such as the importance of weight management and laminitis, but definitely not naming customers. Unless there's something really interesting, and the owner consents to photo being used, then that would be fine.

Opinions are different, I think it's best to keep them off of a company page, otherwise you risk alienating a proportion of your customers. Maybe ok if it's calling out really bad behaviour, but that's just reminding people to be decent.

This! My vet (small animal) does this. They provide general updates to help promote good animal husbandry and welfare and occasionally post about something one of the vets or nurses have done, which like others I think helps you get to know the staff.

On a slightly difference angle, I have certainly reported two manufacturers of supplements to the ASA who have made very extreme claims about the effectiveness of the product…their advertising claims were subsequently changed!

 

[suestowford]

One of my pets featured on the vet's facebook page once. She'd had a procedure and it was unusual enough to be of interest. They asked if they could put her on fb before they did it though.

 

[Dave's Mam]

Dave was on our vets' Insta & FB after his colic. I gave permission for him to warn against sand colic.

 

[scats]

One of my pets featured on the vet's facebook page once. She'd had a procedure and it was unusual enough to be of interest. They asked if they could put her on fb before they did it though.

My recently passed tortoise was on the vets FB page last year with photos of her surgery. They asked permission of course, and I was more than happy for them to share as it was such an unusual and interesting procedure.

 

[HopOnTrot]

My vets have never posted to complain about their next door neighbours.

 

[PurpleSpots]

My vets have never posted to complain about their next door neighbours.

It just looks so ludicrous written out like that, I am still laughing!!

 

[SEL]

One of mine appeared on the vet page a few years ago when she was hospitalised - with permission and it was just to say what a good patient she was (the nurse fell in love!)

My poor friend donated her PTS horse's legs to a trimmer and was horrified when a very identifiable leg appeared on FB with a long spiel about laminitis. No mention of the horse's age and the fact he had cushings which meds weren't managing (hence PTS) so it made her seem like a totally irresponsible owner. Plus having your much loved horse's dissected leg pop up is nasty. She handled it more delicately than I would have done.