Essay Sample on Nursing and Social Media Use at Work

Paper Type:  Essay
Pages:  6
Wordcount:  1549 Words
Date:  2022-12-06

Introduction

Social media refers to the use of internet-based applications to make and switch user engendered content (Obar, & Wildman, 2015). Obar and Wildman (2015) also consider that social media describes the websites and applications that are intended to facilitate the rapid sharing of information from one person to another in real time. Kung and Oh (2014), in their study found that the population of internet users is growing at an alarming rate. This is because the internet has reduced most of the communication barriers such as boundaries, time, expenditures and other difficulties. With the high speed at which technology is growing, it is evident that in the coming future, the number of social media users will have increased promptly (Kung and Oh, 2014).

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Nursing refers to a profession in the health care sector that is based on caring for individuals and communities by maintaining and ensuring their quality health standards. It also involves conveying of information to the patients and refining public health (Moorhead et al. 2013). Like any other profession and business activities, nursing is a field that needs to transfer knowledge and capture a huge population worldwide (Moorley & Chinn, 2016). This means that nurses should be well equipped on the use of social media platforms such as tweeter, Facebook, YouTube, and Linkedin among others (Kung, & Oh, 2014). In the modern world, most of the health care facilities are using social media for care delivery by posting health information on various social media blogs such as the wikis (Keckley, & Hoffmann, 2010). Also, nurses can use social media to review information (Peck, 2014) on the internet, which saves time that would be used to go through numerous pages of huge books to search for information.

Moreover, social media is a significant tool when it comes to communication of disease outbreaks, its prevention, and cure (Hamn et al., 2013). However, most of the health organizations primarily in the rural areas do not allow nurses to use the internet to access the latest information. They rely on substantial hard books for relevant information in their work (Carroll, & Bruno, 2016). Nurses need to be updated in their filed since this can be helpful to them and the patients as well (Househ, Borycki, & Kushniruk, 2014). For instance, health institutions such as the World Health Organization have various social media platform accounts where they update their followers on the current health issues (McCaughey et al. 2014). For example, during the outbreak of influenza, the organization used a tweeter to communicate about the epidemic where it has more than 11 million followers.

Besides, nursing, like any other profession, requires that one seeks information and more knowledge over time (Ventola, 2014). Since it is also a dynamic field where new diseases come up, and more research is continuously done to find out the cure and prevention of various illnesses and conditions (Courtney, 2013). Therefore, nurses can utilize social media to form professional groups where they educate each other besides being at different geographical locations (Fraser, 2011). Also, the nursing students can also ask various questions concerning their profession which will assist in improving the health sector even in the future.

However, although social media has enormous advantages in the field of nursing, it has also some disadvantages that may discourage the members of the public and health institutions as well from relying on the internet for health information (Cronquist, & Spector, 2011). For instance, some of the information on the internet may be incomplete, lack references and may also be informal. This makes most of the internet users, that is, both the nurses and the patients doubt the information (Ferguson, 2013). Also, some of the authors of the books and articles on the internet may be mysterious which creates doubts about the materials they provide.

Another limitation of the use of social media in nursing is the violations of patients' privacy (Barry, & Hardiker, 2012). Some nurses may intentionally or unintentionally disclose patients' information through the posting of photos, videos or even exposing them through the comments in various posts in the social media platforms (Casella, Mills, & Usher, 2014). This may lead to a vast number of negative consequences such as making the patients lose their dignity or even increase the level of stigmatization (Schmitt, Sims-Giddens, & Booth, 2012) especially for patients who have HIV & AIDS. Also, it can destroy the reputation of the nurses and the health setting at large. Nurses may also lose their jobs and their registration.

Besides, social media can also cause a distraction to the nurses at work (Nyangeni, Du Rand, & Van Rooyen, 2015). This can lead to miscalculation of the medications and administration which can lead to severe damage or death of the patients (Andersen, Medaglia, & Henriksen, 2012). One of the recent research studies shows technology gadgets such as mobile phones and desktops can be a significant cause of distraction to the nurses when attending to the patients (Antheunis, Tates, & Nieboer, 2013). A good example is when a nurse if on Facebook or tweeter, and he or she forgets that he is supposed to be visiting a patient (Ressler, & Glazer, 2010). This would affect the effectiveness and efficiency of the services given to such patients.

Conclusion

In summary, social media has emerged to be one of the best communication tools b the nurses in the modern world. Also, it has made it easier for them to learn new ideas in their profession and conduct research especially b forming professional groups with nurses from all over the world. However, although technology is continuing to advance, the use of social media as a communication tool by nurses may be left behind if specific changes are not made. They should improve on the ways through which they communicate and embrace internet etiquette not only for their advantage but for the benefit of the patients and the general public at large.

References

Andersen, K. N., Medaglia, R., &Henriksen, H. Z. (2012). Social media in public health care: Impact domain propositions. Government Information Quarterly, 29(4), 462-469.

Antheunis, M. L., Tates, K., &Nieboer, T. E. (2013). Patients' and health professionals' use of social media in health care: motives, barriers, and expectations. Patient education and counseling, 92(3), 426-431.

Barry, J., &Hardiker, N. (2012).Advancing nursing practice through social media: a global perspective. OJIN: The Online Journal of Issues in Nursing, 17(3)

Carroll, C. L., & Bruno, K. (2016). Social media and free open access medical education: the future of medical and nursing education?. American Journal of Critical Care, 25(1), 93-96.

Casella, E., Mills, J., & Usher, K. (2014). Social media and nursing practice: changing the balance between the social and technical aspects of work. Collegian, 21(2), 121-126.

Courtney, K. (2013). The use of social media in healthcare: organizational, clinical, and patient perspectives. Enabling health and healthcare through ICT: available, tailored and closer, 183, 244.

Cronquist, R., & Spector, N. (2011). Nurses and social media: Regulatory concerns and guidelines. Journal of Nursing Regulation, 2(3), 37-40.

Ferguson, C. (2013). It's time for the nursing profession to leverage social media. Journal of Advanced Nursing, 69(4), 745-747.

Fraser, R. (2011). The nurse's social media advantage: How making connections and sharing ideas can enhance your nursing practice. Sigma Theta Tau.

Hamm, M. P., Chisholm, A., Shulhan, J., Milne, A., Scott, S. D., Klassen, T. P., &Hartling, L. (2013). Social media use by health care professionals and trainees: a scoping review. Academic Medicine, 88(9), 1376-1383.

Henderson, V. (1964).The nature of nursing. The American journal of nursing, 62-68.

Househ, M., Borycki, E., &Kushniruk, A. (2014). Empowering patients through social media: the benefits and challenges. Health informatics journal, 20(1), 50-58.

Obar, J. A., & Wildman, S. S. (2015). Social media definition and the governance challenge-an introduction to the special issue.

Keckley, P. H., & Hoffmann, M. (2010). Social networks in health care: Communication, collaboration, and insights. Deloitte Center for Health Solutions, 1-9.

Kung, Y. M., & Oh, S. (2014). Characteristics of nurses who use social media. CIN: Computers, Informatics, Nursing, 32(2), 64-72.

McCaughey, D., Baumgardner, C., Gaudes, A., LaRochelle, D., Wu, K. J., &Raichura, T. (2014). Best practices in social media: Utilizing a value matrix to assess social media's impact on health care. Social science computer review, 32(5), 575-589.

Moorley, C., & Chinn, T. (2016).Developing nursing leadership in social media. Journal of advanced nursing, 72(3), 514-520.

Moorhead, S. A., Hazlett, D. E., Harrison, L., Carroll, J. K., Irwin, A., &Hoving, C. (2013). A new dimension of health care: A systematic review of the uses, benefits, and limitations of social media for health communication. Journal of medical Internet research, 15(4).

Nyangeni, T., Du Rand, S., & Van Rooyen, D. (2015). Perceptions of nursing students regarding the responsible use of social media in the Eastern Cape. Curationis, 38(2), 1-9.

Peck, J. L. (2014). Social media in nursing education: responsible integration for meaningful use. Journal of Nursing Education, 53(3), 164-169.

Ressler, P., & Glazer, G. (2010). Legislative: nursing's engagement in health policy and healthcare through social media. OJIN: The Online Journal of Issues in Nursing, 16(1), 1-15.

Riley, J. B. (2015). Communication in nursing.Elsevier Health Sciences.

Schmitt, T. L., Sims-Giddens, S. S., & Booth, R. G. (2012). Social media use in nursing education. OJIN: The Online Journal of Issues in Nursing, 17(3).

Slobogian, V., Giles, J., & Rent, T. (2017). SOCIAL MEDIA:# Boundaries: When patients become friends. Canadian Oncology Nursing Journal/Revue Canadienne de soinsinfirmiers en oncology, 27(4), 394-396.

Spector, N., &Kappel, D. M. (2012). Guidelines for using electronic and social media: the regulatory perspective. Online J Issues Nurs, 17(3), 1.

Ventola, C. L. (2014). Social media and health care professionals: benefits, risks, and best practices. Pharmacy and Therapeutics, 39(7), 491.

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Essay Sample on Nursing and Social Media Use at Work. (2022, Dec 06). Retrieved from https://proessays.net/essays/essay-sample-on-nursing-and-social-media-use-at-work

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