I’m really pleased to be part of this community.
Benj

I am currently collecting thoughts, posts, etc regarding health care blogging for my nursingjobs.org column, You’re Being (Web)Paged. I think this site would be an excellent contribution to the discussion.

I will make changes on the next iteration and agree that somewhere we will need a central list.

Hsien:

Thanks for you input. I am in no way against anonymous blogging. I think that a code of ethics would perhaps help anyone who questions the person, either on the blog or in person, as to the integrity of the blog, especially the anonymous blogger.

The thing about medicine is that there is significant legal and ethical consideration when it comes to putting forth information. Anonymous bloggers are all the more suspect (as Moof learned from an anonymous blogger who misrepresented herself as a physician and revealed personal information). I expect people to keep their identity hidden if that is what they prefer, and agree to stand behind the principles outlined.

Overall I see it as of moderate utility for those visiting the blog, but the biggest utility is when the blogger is questioned by those at the workplace (such as Fat Doctor or Barbados Butterfly) – they can show the rules by which they are blogging. It is by no means an airtight solution, but it helps to spell out the framework by which you are presenting information on your blog.

In the end, though, I think that every single post is probably a good snapshot of the blogger’s attitude and point of view. It doesn’t take much to see if someone is biased or less than honest. Having a Code of Conduct certainly helps to remind everyone that what we do may have a bigger impact than the average blog and it helps to have something to point to when someone “misbehaves.” When it comes to cases like Dr. Flea or Barbados Butterfly, however, I don’t think it matters whether they fully disclosed their name, rank or serial number. In the eye of the tempest in a teapot, they would still have been faced with taking their blogs down.

What I’m trying to say is that having HONCode certification and fully disclosing our biases and affiliations is always a good thing. And being considerate of patient confidentiality and other forms of privacy is very important. But we also need to look at promoting blogging as a legitimate platform which should be respected and not subject to anyone’s influence except the blogger’s own truth. As long as we are willing to stand behind our words, we should face no fear of repercussions.

Note: I hold a PhD, not an MD, but have been blogging about science and health since April 2005.

I was also trying to point out that we don’t want to simply reproduce the HONcode. A “Healthcare Blogger Code of Ethics” should also include protections for the author, principles that aren’t offered by the HONcode.

After I left comments last night, I thought more about the Courtesy principle and you’re right: having something in writing would be beneficial. Based on your comments, I can also see how a Courtesy/Respect principle may offer some protections to the author as well.

Hopefully we can solicit more feedback from other healthcare bloggers.

While I agree on the readers avoiding overtly flaming writers/commenters, to have something in writing gives something concrete a medical blogger can hand anyone who questions the intent/tone of the blog (employers, colleagues, etc). Perhaps replacing the word “courtesy” with “respect” would be a better way.

My hope was to get a list of common ground for every medical blogger to sign on to as some sort of treaty we can have within the medical blogging community. The more people who sign on to it, the more legit the code will be. I do see it somewhat like creative commons, but I don’t want to get into an a la carte approach. I can’t see someone not embracing these principles.

Gwen: I think medical bloggers are in a unique position in that we do have very strict professional rules and even laws governing what we can say on the blog. It’s really important for us to assure the public that we are not going to view the Internet as a place without rules. We will set up guidelines as a group that we will adnere to.

As an aside, I don’t care much for the Courtesy principle. If I start flamming people, I’ll loose readers as well as the respect and acknowledgement of most, if not all people in the healthcare blogging community. I don’t need a code to define what I already do. Further, who among us doesn’t watch, respond and react to comments on our own blogs? If someone starts making trouble, I delete their comments. Don’t you? Do we need a principle to tell us what (I think) all of us would do anyway?

For this reason, I’ve had a problem with the name “Code of Conduct”. I’m more concerned with ethical standards than guidelines for conduct. A “Code of Ethics” may be more appropriate for the healthcare blogging community.

I believe we only follow the rules that we accept for ourselves. As a suggestion, any code that is drafted should be modular in nature (with some core principles that can’t be excluded), similar to creative commons licenses, so that individual bloggers can choose a level of values they want to assert.