Social Media Guidelines for Anatomists

Abstract

Social Media has changed the way that individuals interact with each other - it has brought considerable benefits, yet also some challenges. Social media in anatomy has enabled anatomists all over the world to engage, interact and form new collaborations that otherwise would not have been possible. In a relatively small discipline where individuals may be working as the only anatomist in an institution, having such a virtual community can be important. Social media is also being used as a means for anatomists to communicate with the current generation of students as well as members of the public. Posting appropriate content is one of the challenges raised by social media use in anatomy. Human cadaveric material is frequently shared on social media and there is divided opinion among anatomists on whether or not such content is appropriate. This article explores the uses and challenges of social media use in the field of anatomy and outlines guidelines on how social media can be used by anatomists globally, while maintaining professional and ethical standards. Creating global guidelines has shown to be difficult due to the differences in international law for the use of human tissue and also the irregularities in acquiring informed consent for capturing and sharing cadaveric images. These nuances may explain why cadaveric images are frequently shared on social media. This article proposes that as standard practice, anatomists obtain informed consent from donors before sharing images of cadaveric material on social media and ensure posts include a statement stating the same.

Keywords: Anatomical sciences education; Cadavers; Gross anatomy education; Informed consent; Medical education; Medical ethics; Professionalism; Social media.

Figure 1

Image with little educational content posted publicly on the @Medshots Instagram account.

Figure 2

Image of a student holding a human brain posted publicly on the #medlife Instagram account.

Figure 3

Image of a group of students holding human brains posted publicly on the #medlife Instagram account.

Figure 4

Stilled image of one of the dissection videos publicly available on the Seattle Science Foundation Facebook page. This video demonstrates and explains the epiploic foramen connecting the greater and lesser sacs of the abdominal cavity.

Figure 5

Themes and subthemes identified in medical guidance documents on social media use. The main themes featured in each of the documents, unlike the subthemes. The document symbol and number indicate the number of documents which featured each subtheme (Hennessy et al., 2019b).