Table 2 Items excluded after validation

25

People have the opportunity to post photos and document aspects of their professional life which would otherwise remain private.

Low saturation on all factors

26

A little leniency should be shown if unprofessional behaviour occurs in the first years of professional education.

Not contributing to one factor; low inter-item correlation;

27

The risks of social networking software greatly overweigh the benefits.

Equally low contribution to all factors

28

Patients use social media to get medical / dental information.

Ambiguous direction of item, not contributing to one factor

29

Professionalism in online activities is as important as in traditional (offline) environments.

Low contribution to multiple factors

30

I believe discussion on online professionalism to be more important for my profession than for any other.

These two items form specific dimension that stays uncorrelated with rest of instrument, suggesting they do not measure a part of e-professionalism

31

I believe discussion on online professionalism to be more important for my healthcare profession (physicians of different specialties) in respect to any other profession.

32

The benefits of social media overweight the risks of their use.

Equally low contribution to multiple factors