Code of conduct
The Certified Medical Web site Seal of the Medical Association of Barcelona (COMB) represents the commitment by owners of medical WebPages to accept the rules of ethical conduct established under the:
1. Prevailing Ethics Code of the Council of Medical Colleges of Catalonia.
2. Norms established by the Code of Conduct for health web sites, created by the certification system of the Certified Medical Web Site (WMA) of the Medical Association of Barcelona.
The Code of Conduct includes the following aspects:
- Certification
- Identification
- Contents
- Confidentiality
- Control and Validation
- Advertising and other sources of financing
- Virtual Consultation (Document of the Ethics Committee)
- Non-compliance and responsabilities
:: Certification ::
To obtain the Certified Medical Web Site Seal it is compulsory that physicians or institutions that sponsor a health/medical web site previously communicate their wish to obtain the seal, accepting the conditions of the Council of Medical Colleges of Catalonia Ethics Code and the WMA Code of Conduct. In order to solicit the certification, it is necessary that the form within this website created for solicitations is completed. The data sent via this form is completely confidential and will be dealt as such.
The COMB has established a process of certification, which includes a standing committee and a delegated committee. These committees serve as consultants to the web site so that the contents, resources, and information of these adapt to the norms of the seal.
The Certified Medical Web Site Seal will be granted for a period of a year, which can be renewed indefinitely. Periodic reviews will be carried out to insure the web sites still follows established norms under the seal.
Certified Medical Web Sites will be obligated to identify:
- Ownership (institution and professional or health professionals, including data about medical association membership, medical specialization and professional activity and, if possible, a brief summary including most significant training and professional experiences). In the case that the web site offers any kind of virtual consultation, it will be necessary to identify all the professionals involved.
- Address and contact e-mail placed in a clear and prominent place on the web site (it is recommended that this place be within the Home page). This mailto allows visitors to request information or send doubts about any issue relating the web site.
- It is always advisable to include the date of updates made to web site. Although this date does not give visitors a clear indication as to when the web site was last updated, it does provide a general one. This date should preferably appear within the home page.
- Informative content that is self-produced must include the author, a bibliography of the work and the dates of both initial publication and of subsequent updates.
- In the same way, in reference to content from other sources, it will be compulsory to cite owner (name of entity, p. ex.) and the Internet address of the entity or of the document cited whenever possible. An explanation must be provided if this information is not available.
- The web site should be structured in such a way that allows for clear access to the different sections within the web site as well as to external web sites.
- All links within the web site that lead to external sources must indicate destination. Whenever possible, it is advisable that a small text be included along-side the link with a brief description of source.
- Any link within the web site that leads to another section within the same web site but has a different domain address will be considered a different site and therefore, certification of the latter would require a new solicitation and certification process.
In accordance with the prevailing Norms of Medical Ethics, the
web sites that hold the Certified Medical Web Site Seal must abide
by the principles of confidentiality and secrecy in all that refers
to data and information sent or provided by patients, for professional
health purposes, through the net. This rule of confidentiality
should be included within all sections that include forms or other
applications that patients can use to send information.
When a user or patient sends information through the net, they should be informed
about what secure system is being used to manage data and also status of information.
The Web sites that have received the Seal will be indexed in the Certified Medical Web Site's electronic page section. At the same time, the main pages of these are obligated to post the Certified Medical Web Site logo in a prominent place on the page. This seal incorporates the link to the electronic version of this norm, which is located in the WMA web site.
The pages of the WMA include a link to a Control Mailbox, which is addressed to the standing committee. Any visitor to the web can use this Control Mailbox to confirm the authenticity of a certification, obtain more information, or to inform against default of a clause of the Certified Medical Web Site Seal.
Any changes in the e-mail address or contact information or in the structure and/or sections and services that the web site offers must be communicated to the WMA.
:: Advertising and other sources of financing ::
It is an absolute requirement that advertising material, in whatever format, included within a web site that holds the Certified Medical Web Site Seal, is distinguished from informative material. This can be done through the use of electronic advertising applications such as fixed or movable banners or by simply specifying which is what.
When the web with the Certified Medical Web Site Seal is financed either completely or partially through a sponsor, the sponsor must be clearly displayed in a prominent location on the web page.
:: Virtual Consultation (Document of the Ethics Committee) ::
Based on the document, “Internet and the virtual consultation”, elaborated by the COMB’s ethics code committee and published in SIC 96, the following document establishes guidelines that doctors must follow when dealing with medical consultations via e-mail. This document makes no reference to the quality of health information on the Internet.
Guidelines1. A virtual consultation should not interfere with the basic principles of the doctor-patient relationship, which consists of mutual respect, independence of the clinical doctor’s judgement, patient autonomy, and medical confidentiality.
2. New technological advances should never substitute personal visits that are the basis of the doctor-patient relationship. Therefore, e-mail and other forms of electronic communication should only be used to facilitate / further this interpersonal relationship.
3. A medical consultation done by a patient via e-mail, to his or her doctor, in regards to something that has happened during the course of his or her treatment with that doctor is considered completely acceptable. It remains acceptable even when the consultation requires the treatment be changed or a new medication prescribed.
4. On the other hand, virtual consultations that request a diagnosis, or pharmaceutical prescriptions without a prior physical medical visit are not ethically acceptable. The physician that risks accepting such consultations exposes oneself to criminal and civil penalties.
5. A physician must safeguard the confidentiality of content received via e-mail from patients and treat such information as he or she would treat any other form of doctor-patient communication. It is for this reason that electronic correspondence must be handled in a confidential manner.
6. A physician must assure that the electronic correspondence is indeed from a patient before replying to whatever question sent via e-mail.
7. All electronic correspondence between physician and patient must be documented within the patient medical record. If the patient medical record exists in paper format, all information obtained via e-mail must also exist in this format.
8. Requests for a second opinion via e-mail are legally and ethically acceptable, even in the absence of a physical medical visit as long as: the patient is informed that the physician’s response is only that and that it cannot substitute a previous medical diagnosis. The physician who gives a second opinion must be well informed about the case at hand and be certain to give quality information.
:: Non-compliance and responsibilities ::
In the case these norms are not complied with, the Medical Associaton of Barcelona reserves the right to withdraw the conferred Certified Medical Web Site Seal, without undermining the responsibilities that, in accordance with the prevailing norm, may derive from this non-compliance.
Last update: 5/2004