Speech Pathology Australia has unveiled guidelines for speech pathologists on the do’s and don’ts of navigating the social media world.

The guidelines discuss confidentiality, defamation, client and professional boundaries, accessibility of information and Facebook privacy settings.

SPA spokesperson Joanna Wood said statistics showed 86 percent of females aged between 18 and 50 are active in social media – which is the profession’s main demographic.

“It was very important for the association to put together both guidelines for how our members should use social media, as well as how we will use it,” she said.

“As a health professional, it can be tricky to navigate the fine line between private and professional, especially now social media is used so widely and for so many different purposes.”

While Australian nurses have been reprimanded for posting comments regarding sensitive issues online, Ms Wood said the association was not aware of speech pathologists being disciplined for crossing the line.

“There have been some worrying stories about other health professionals, including doctors and nurses, and SPA wanted to ensure that our members and the entire speech pathology profession are aware of the difficulties, and of course benefits, they may run into when using social media.”

Ms Wood said it was vital speech pathologists kept their private and professional lives separate while using sites such as Facebook.

“And be sure to maintain all legal and ethical standards you would offline,” she said.

“Social media is a great way of building community - of connecting people with a common aim, goal or interest.

“As long as health professionals are mindful of client/therapist confidentiality, defamation and other legal and ethical issues, social media is another way to provide this useful information.”