I’d like to thank various media outlets for recently citing KevinMD.com.

1. Professionalism: Can it be taught? CMAJ.
Though tech-savvy, medical students need to learn what is and isn’t appropriate to do on the Internet, even if their peers in other fields of study haven’t yet grown tired of uploading photos of eye-glazing, face-reddening, vodka-induced debauchery. “They need to be cognizant of online professionalism right from the beginning of their medical training,” says Dr. Kevin Pho, who practises internal medicine in Nashua, New Hampshire, and writes about social media on his website (KevinMD.com).

2. Professionalism: Social media mishaps. CMAJ.
The best cure for online fatuity, however, is a heaping dose of common sense, says Dr. Kevin Pho, who practises internal medicine in Nashua, New Hampshire, and frequently writes about social media on his website (KevinMD.com). Don’t identify patients. Don’t rant about colleagues. Don’t let your fingers type what your mouth wouldn’t dare say. “I have what I call the elevator test,” says Pho. “If they wouldn’t say it in a crowded hospital elevator, they shouldn’t write it on a social network.”

3. Family Doctors Seen as Winners as High Court Upholds Law. Businessweek.
“The law itself isn’t perfect,” said Kevin Pho, an internal medicine physician in Nashua, New Hampshire. “The Affordable Care Act does benefit primary care doctors, but it’s necessary because they’re undervalued in our current payment system.”

4. Be careful when diagnosing your ailments online. CNN.
As Dr. Kevin Pho of KevinMD.com pointed out, “There’s a lot of bad information on the Web and information that can be dangerous.” Especially if you’re not considering who put up that information in the first place.

Pho urges users to favor Web addresses ending in .org and .edu when looking for reputable health-care info, and to check who is funding the collection of that information. “There’s so much information from organizations trying to sell products or push their agenda on the Web,” he said.

5. Social Media: Physician Bane or Benefit? Maryland Physician.
Kevin Pho, M.D., author of the blog KevinMD (www.kevinmd.com) and arguably one of the best-known physicians in the social media arena, says, “Physicians are reluctant to use social media because they’re hesitant to be online. … Physicians need to take control of their online presence and manage what comes up when someone ‘Googles’ their name. Doctors are afraid of negative reviews,” he continues. “As a start, I recommend that they take 15 minutes to create a simple LinkedIn profile. It puts them in control and typically comes up first in a Google search.”