Crowdsourcing care: What general practitioner WhatsApp groups get right … and wrong.

Authors

Magrietha Swart

Published in

South African family practice : official journal of the South African Academy of Family Practice/Primary Care. Volume 68. Issue 1. Pages e1-e3. Jun 29, 2026. Epub Jun 29, 2026.

Abstract

With the growing use of WhatsApp groups by general practitioners, there are clear pros and cons to their use. Peer support, easing referral and educational opportunities are thereby supported, but at the cost of potential privacy and data protection issues because of the medium and nature of the technology, and potential legal ramifications of the Protection of Personal Information Act 4 of 2013.Contribution: The use of such groups requires care and attention, and although especially useful, securing data and confidentiality is a potential cause of concern.

PMID:
42416992
Bibliographic data and abstract were imported from PubMed on 08 Jul 2026.

Read full publication at:
Please sign in to see all details.

Stats

1-terrible, 9-excellent. How would you rate this publication? Sign in in to submit your rating.

Post a comment

You need to be signed in to post comments. You can sign in here.

Comments

There are no comments yet.