Sarah Stewart, a prolific blogging colleague at Otago, takes on the health sector educators and their almost neurotic hesitance to take on an open web presence and open education. Getting our knickers in a twist?
I am still thinking about the whole issue of confidentiality and blogging, especially in the context of health practice. And I am wondering if some people are getting their knickers in too much of a twist?…
…To be honest, I do not know if there has been an analysis of the content of blogs belonging to health professionals. So I do not know how much the concerns about blogging and confidentially are based in fact or general impressions.
Sarah and her colleagues have devised a simple test to assess the content of email by Health practitioners.
Liam and I developed an assessment tool by which we were able to anilyse the risk to security and confidentiality ranging from 1 — breach of patient confidentiality — indicating a high need for security and privacy of the email’s content, to a score of 8 which had no need for either security or privacy.
The results? Well, I don’t want to steel Sarah’s lime light here. I really think Sarah and her colleagues are on to something and I hope they take it further and chip away at the common (mis)conception that is quite frankly holding Otago Polytechnic health educators back in my opinion. The almost reflex reaction up until now has been a persistant blockage for health teachers even considering open education, but I’m sure there will be a debate even before the research…
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July 19, 2008 at 12:37 pm
Sarah Stewart
Hi Leigh , thank you for highlighting the discussions about health professionals & the web on my blog. But I do think that you simplified the issues that face us and have muddled a number of complex issues.
What ‘holds us back’ as far as being completely open is concerned is the legislative, professional rules and regulations that shape our practice. We have to be very careful about what information we put out in an open environment, especially about the women we work with. Yes, there is no reason why we can’t have our course on breastfeeding in an open environment. But when it comes to student reflecting on their experiences of working with women who are breastfeeding, that’s when life becomes more complicated. There are very stringent laws that govern patient confidentiality and it wouldn’t take much to end up in major trouble with the Midwifery Council & Health and Disability Commissioner. You only have to look at the furore that has been going on in the press over the last few weeks following the death of the breech baby on Wellington.
Midwifery, particularly, is very vulnerable and highly scrutinized by people and media who want to take away our autonomy. So we have to be seen to be spotless in our behavior. If we say something out of place in an open environment, especially about our practice which is perceived to be ‘bad’ practuce, then it wouldn;t be long before we are called to account, and rightly so. And the problem with students is they often do not appreciate what the boundaries of open communication are, & they do not see the big picture.
I do not have the answer to this and at the moment am exploring all the various issues. So I would appreciate any comments and opinions on my blog. cheers Sarah
July 19, 2008 at 6:14 pm
leighblackall
Hi Sarah, in the 3 years I have been working at the Poly, I have heard this almost daily. Its what I mean by neurotic. I appreciate your need to temper or balance my post or risk being lumped by your peers with me and all the free radicals, so go right ahead. Ti my mind, your sector is not the only one with these concerns, and all those concerns have good strategies and techniques for managing the risks that mean we CAN take advantage of the benefits of open access, open communications and open learning – once we learn how to use these tools. Your post highlights a probability that the risk is smaller than we might think (for practitioners at least), which as you point out, might mean that teachers and practitioners (at least) can start using these tools for professional development and participation in online communities etc etc. When it comes to students – well, I’m the first to say (and have been since about 2005) that our teachers and practitioners need to understand and master these tools before we ask students to use them. Trouble is, the longer we wait, the more our students will go ahead and start using them without us… and it is THERE that the risk becomes real and largely unmanageable.
July 19, 2008 at 6:59 pm
Sarah Stewart
I knew I shouldn’t comment and just bask in the glory of your original post! 🙂
July 22, 2008 at 9:19 am
Angela
Hi Leigh
We have been having similar discussions – triggered by Sarah’s post on our own blog if you’d be interested in having a look.
http://frederickroad.blogspot.com/2008/07/blogging-confidentiality-hot-topic.html