Likely to no one’s surprise, I receive at least one DM a day from someone asking me to weigh in on an unprofessional social media post.

I’ve yet to receive a DM from a stranger wanting my opinion on “good” content.

DM ‘em. I’ll do public critiques and suggest strategy.

If you are one of the people who sends unprofessional content, I encourage you to have the convos directly w/ the content creators. You’d be surprised at how receptive they are to feedback!

And, if they aren’t welcoming of your opinion, oh well. That’s life. Don’t take it personal.

Before entering those discussions, I encourage you to ask the question, “what’s the harm?”

If you don’t like what someone is doing because it’s silly or it does not align with the stereotypical idea of a physician, I suggest that you acknowledge your bias before proceeding.

I also suggest that you think critically about beginning a public discussion about a student.

Someone reached out recently with three examples of medical students posting what they believed to be unprofessional content.

The expectation was that I would publicly “call them out.”

The person who shared the three examples had reached out to each student & attempted to bully them into removing the posts.

Guess what happened? The physician was blocked!

That’s when the posts were sent my way.

Here’s the thing: You’re not going to bully or shame anyone into changing their behavior. Create a discussion. If you demand that a stranger change their social media presence because you don’t like it, you’ll look like a troll.

Also, it’s important for you to know that the three students were all underrepresented POC in medicine.

So yeah, that was pretty upsetting.

Physicians shouldn’t be creating anonymous accounts to report the unprofessional behavior of med students to me.

You have influence and experience. Use it to your advantage! Frame the discussions as opportunities to mentor—not criticize.

You get more with than vinegar.

I believe in you!

I know you can have impact and help guide the discussions around medical professionalism and social media.

If you want advice or tips for how to approach some of the discussions on your own, you can DM me. I‘m happy to share ideas.