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Facebook has been identified as the preferred social networking site among postsecondary students. Repeated findings in the social networking literature have suggested that postsecondary students practice high personal self-disclosure on Facebook and tend not to use privacy settings that would limit public access. This study identified and reviewed Facebook profiles for 805 veterinarians-in-training enrolled at four veterinary colleges across Canada. Of these, 265 (32.9%) were categorized as having low exposure, 286 (35.5%) were categorized as having medium exposure, and 254 (31.6%) were categorized as having high exposure of information. Content analysis on a sub-sample (n=80) of the high-exposure profiles revealed publicly available unprofessional content, including indications of substance use and abuse, obscene comments, and breaches of client confidentiality. Regression analysis revealed that an increasing number of years to graduation and having a publicly visible wall were both positively associated with having a high-exposure profile. Given the rapid uptake of social media in recent years, veterinary educators should be aware of and begin to educate students on the associated risks and repercussions of blurring one's private life and one's emerging professional identity through personal online disclosures.

From the Social media use by health professionals occurs in a digital environment where etiquette has yet to be solidly defined. The objectives of this study were to explore veterinarians' personal use of Facebook, knowledge of privacy settings, and factors related to sharing personal information online. All American Animal Hospital Association member veterinarians with a valid e-mail address (9469) were invited to complete an online survey about Facebook (e.g., time spent on Facebook, awareness of consequences, types of information posted). Questions assessing personality dimensions including trust, popularity, self-esteem and professional identity were included. The response rate was 17% (1594 of 9469); 72% of respondents (1148 of 1594) had a personal Facebook profile. Veterinarians were more likely to share information on Facebook than they would in general. Trust, need for popularity, and more time spent on Facebook predicted more disclosure of personal information on Facebook. Awareness of consequences and increased veterinary experience predicted lesser disclosure. As veterinary practices use Facebook to improve client services, they need also to manage risks associated with online disclosure by staff. Raising awareness of reputation management and consequences of posting certain types of information to Facebook is integral to protecting the individual, the practice, and the veterinary profession.

Background There is considerable discussion of risks to health professionals’ reputations and employment from personal social media use, though its impacts on professional credibility and the health professional-client relationship are unknown. Objective The aim of this study was to test the extent to which workday comments posted to health professionals’ personal Facebook profiles influence their credibility and affect the professional-client relationship. Methods In a controlled field study, participants (members of the public) reviewed randomly assigned mock Facebook profiles of health professionals. The 2×2×2 factorial design of mock profiles included gender (female/male), health profession (physician/veterinarian), and workday comment type (evident frustration/ambiguous). Participants then rated the profile owner’s credibility on a visual analog scale. An analysis of variance test compared ratings. Mediation analyses tested the importance of credibility ratings on participants’ willingness to become a client of the mock health professional. Results Participants (N=357) rated health professionals whose personal Facebook profile showed a comment with evident frustration rather than an ambiguous workday comment as less credible ( P <.001; mean difference 11.18 [SE 1.28]; 95% CI 8.66 to 13.70). Furthermore, participants indicated they were less likely to become clients of the former when they considered credibility (standardized beta=.69; P <.001). Credibility explained 86% of the variation in the relationship between the type of workday comment and the participant’s willingness to become a client of the health professional. Conclusions This study provides the first evidence of the impact of health professionals’ personal online disclosures on credibility and the health relationship. Public perceptions about professionalism and credibility are integral to developing the evidence base for e-professionalism guidelines and encouraging best practices in social media use.

Social media is an increasingly common form of communication, with Facebook being the preferred social-networking site among post-secondary students. Numerous studies suggest post-secondary students practice high self-disclosure on Facebook. Research evaluating veterinary students' use of social media found a notable proportion of student-posted content deemed inappropriate. Lack of discretion in posting content can have significant repercussions for aspiring veterinary professionals, their college of study, and the veterinary profession they represent. Veterinarians-in-training at three veterinary colleges across Canada were surveyed to explore their use of and attitude toward the social networking site, Facebook. Students were invited to complete an online survey with questions relating to their knowledge of privacy in relation to using Facebook, their views on the acceptability of posting certain types of information, and their level of professional accountability online. Linear regression modeling was used to further examine factors related to veterinary students' disclosure of personal information on Facebook. Need for popularity (p<.01) and awareness of consequences (p<.001) were found to be positively and negatively associated, respectively, with students' personal disclosure of information on Facebook. Understanding veterinary students' use of and attitudes toward social media, such as Facebook, reveals a need, and provides a basis, for developing educational programs to address online professionalism. Educators and administrators at veterinary schools may use this information to assist in developing veterinary curricula that addresses the escalating issue of online professionalism.

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Final-year veterinary students must meet baseline clinical competency upon completion of their training for entry to practice. Workplace-based assessments (WBAs), widely used in human medical training to assess post-graduate students' professionalism and clinical performance, have recently been adopted in undergraduate veterinary clinical teaching environments. WBAs should support veterinary trainees' learning in a clinical teaching environment, though utility of WBAs within veterinary education may differ from that in medical training due to differences in context and in learners' stage of clinical development. We conducted focus groups with final-year veterinary students and clinical instructors following the implementation of three WBAs (Direct Observation of Procedural Skills [DOPS], the Mini-Clinical evaluation exercise [Mini-CEX], and the In-Training Evaluation Report [ITER]) during a small-animal primary-veterinary-care rotation. Students and clinical instructors viewed the DOPS and Mini-CEX as feasible and valuable learning and assessment tools that offered an overall opportunity for timely in-the-moment feedback. Instructors viewed the ITER as less feasible in the context of a service-oriented veterinary clinical teaching environment. Students believed the ITER had potential to be informative, although in its existing application the ITER had limited utility due to time constraints on instructors that prevented them from providing students with individualized and specific feedback. In service-oriented veterinary clinical teaching environments, successful implementation of WBAs requires balancing provision of feedback to students, time demands on clinical instructors, and flexibility of assessment tools.