A Professionalism Audit is an important step in developing an effective Social Media Plan
Reflection on the Environmental Health Profession
I am a member of the Canadian Institute of Public Health Inspectors (CIPHI), which unites, represents and certifies Environmental Public Professionals in Canada (Canadian Institute of Public Health Inspectors, 2020). As a Professional Association, CIPHI ensures that members like me maintain professional competencies through the Continuing Professional Competencies (CPC Program), and engages in education and Environmental Health advocacy, among other activities (Canadian Institute of Public Health Inspectors, 2020). All members must adhere to a Code of Ethics which consists of seven fundamental principles, including justice, accountability, inclusion and evidence-informed decision-making (Canadian Institute of Public Health Inspectors, 2017).
Public Health Inspectors (PHI) in Alberta routinely interact with other professions. Examples include:
- Referrals, reporting and consultation with Public Health Nurses and Physicians during Communicable Disease Outbreak Prevention, Control and Management.
- Consultations and joint inspections with Safety Codes Officers as part of our Housing Program.
- Consultations with Public Health Veterinarians and Municipal By-Law Officers during Animal Bite Investigations.
- Communication with Laboratory Technologists or Scientists who test/analyze food, water and biological samples and provide results to PHI.
Acting in a professional manner, building and maintaining relationships and following established procedures or protocols generally results in seamless interactions with stakeholders.
Social Media Presence of the Environmental Health (EH) Professional
To answer the question of what constitutes an appropriate social media presence, it is important to define the term social media. According to Gagnon and Sabus (2015), social media are Internet sites and applications that allow users to create, share, edit, and interact with online content". These include sites for publishing, sharing, discussing and networking (Gagnon and Sabus, 2015).
"Creat, Share, Edit and Interact with Reason"
Social media presence is essentially the way a person or organization presents themselves on social media. Upon reviewing various literature on social media presence, I consider an appropriate presence as a balance of professional and personal engagement on various social media. Although, I would speak to this question mainly from the point of view of an individual's social media presence, most of these principles would apply to an organization's presence.
"as a healthcare provider, an individual's social media presence does not exist in isolation"
An appropriate presence should involve the use of media with varying degrees of richness (the amount of information that may be transmitted within a given interval), and should consist of a balance between blogs, content communities (e.g. YouTube), social networking sites (e.g. Facebook) and collaborative project platforms (Kaplan and Haenlein, 2010).
Appropriate social media presence therefore involves careful selection, planning and adaptation of media to present a humble, interesting, engaging and honest identity that is accessible within some limits (Kaplan and Haenlein, 2010).
According to Gagnon and Sabus (2015), "as a healthcare provider, an individual's social media presence does not exist in isolation". With the evolution of social media, I would argue that this is true of any profession. An appropriate social media presence should therefore maintain some level of professionalism, whilst creating an image that is consistent with a person's identity (Kaplan and Haenlein, 2010).
In developing an appropriate social media presence, it is important to strictly adhere to platform-specific terms of use, professional standards and organizational policies, and to regularly monitor one's Internet presence for authenticity and accuracy (Gagnon and Sabus, 2015).
EH Professional and Ethical Considerations
A social media presence that incorporates the different considerations listed above, would align directly with the code of ethics for environmental health professionals in Canada, which includes the principles of Justice, Inclusion, Accountability, Privacy & Confidentiality, Evidence-Informed Decision-making, Health, Well-being and Collaboration and Competent Practice (Canadian Institute of Public Health Inspectors, 2020).
As an Environmental Health Professional, I do not believe I am obligated to always speak up in public. However, in specific circumstances, such as correcting misinformation within my area of expertise or scope of practice, I feel an obligation to speak up. For example, if misinformation was being propagated regarding a piece of related legislation, I believe I am obligated to direct the parties involved to a credible source for facts.
Moving Forward
After reading both blogs on my site, it is evident that I have some work to do to improve my social media sites. In response to my audits, I have set up Diigo, Adobe Spark, and Wix accounts which I have started using to assist me in synthesizing, organizing and sharing quality health information. I will continue to refine my social media plan, with the goal of creating a unique, professional and authentic identity, which I would project on the internet.
References:
Canadian Institute of Public Health Inspectors. (2020). CIPHI. Retrieved September 14, 2020, from https://www.ciphi.ca/
Canadian Institute of Public Health Inspectors. (2017). Canadian Institute of Public Health Inspectors Code of Ethics. file:///C:/Users/Claudette/Downloads/CIPHI_Code_of_Ethics_(_Revised_May_2017).pdf
Gagnon K. and Sabus C. (2015). Professionalism in a Digital Age: Opportunities and Considerations for Using Social Media in Health Care. Physical Therapy, 95(3), 406–414. https://doi.org/10.2522/ptj.20130227
Kaplan A. and Haenlein M. (2010). Users of the world, unite! The challenges and opportunities of Social Media. Business Horizons, 53, 59—68. https://0-www-sciencedirect-com.aupac.lib.athabascau.ca/science/article/pii/S0007681309001232?via%3Dihub
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