Essay Sample on Social Media: A Preferred Practice for Modern Health Care

Introduction

The article cites the use of mobile apps and social media as some of the practices used to address health care concerns in the modern world. Of the two, the use of social media tools to improve health care outcomes is presented as the best practice. With emerging technology, health care providers are turning to social media as a means of offering the best services to the patients. Social media is a preferred practice due to its ease of use and affordability. Many people across the world have access to social media since they can be accessed either from a computer or a smartphone. The use of social media as a practice to improve health care outcomes is best suited in the modern world due to its ease of access.

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The evaluation of social media is done through the use of social media evaluation tools. The article cites that there are more websites as well as tools which are specifically developed to examine social media tools such as social networks, blogs, Instagram and Twitter (Skiba, 2017). Using the set out criteria for assessing the best features of tools that can be used in health care, social media seems to satisfy all of them. The article cites that social networking sites can be evaluated by looking at the following; ease of use, privacy policy, checks on the quality of content, transparency of ads, the security of member data and member control of information sharing. Of all these checks, social media has fulfilled all of them, thereby making it a satiable practice to use in health care. For instance, regarding ease of use, the article mentions that the best practice should have images, icons as well as other essential visual elements to help in learning. Most of the social media sites such as Instagram and Twitter have fulfilled these tests. For instance, Instagram is more of a visual site where visuals are used as a means of communication.

The use of social media also passes the test of the privacy policy and checks on the quality of content. Most of the social media sites have a privacy policy that protects the user against exploitation. Most of these policies are written in a simple language that an eighth-grade person can read and understand without difficulties. Social media sites such as Twitter require the user to agree to certain policies before opening the account (Smailhodzic, Hooijsma, Boonstra, Langley, 2016). It is only after agreeing to the policies that one can access the account. Besides, it prohibits against the use of the platform for any other purpose than the one it was opened for. Users who disregard these policies could be blocked from using the platform. With such kind of policy measures instituted, social media can be regarded as one of the best evidence-based practices to use in the improvement of health care outcomes.

Kostick, Blumenthal-Barby, Wilhelms, Delgado, Bruce (2015) assessed the viability of using social media in the health care based on the variables; interactivity, user-friendliness, type of medium, audience, tone, accuracy, and consistency. The purpose of the consideration of these factors was to ascertain whether social media can be an appropriate tool for use in the health care sector. From their analysis, they found out that different social media sites incorporate different features to address those variables. There are those that focus on purpose and audience, others on accuracy and others on consistency. Overall, social media sites fulfilled the seven parameters to a great extent.

The greatest concern for patients and health care providers is privacy, security, and confidentiality. Any tool that deals with issues concerning health care needs to address privacy, security, and confidentiality adequately. The good thing with most social media sites is that they have been built in such a way that they address these concerns. For instance, Twitter has an elaborate system that assures the user of their data privacy and security. Besides, anything shared in the Twitter platform remains confidential not unless the owner of the information gives access to that information to a third party.

Conclusion

By and large, evidence-based practice depends on scientific research to determine the best course of action. In the article under study, the use of social media and mobile apps to address health care concerns were put into consideration. Although both of them provide evidence as to their suitability, the use of social media prevailed. Different evaluation tools to determine the suitability of social media in health care showed that different social media sites such as Instagram and Twitter can be used to a great extent to improve health care outcomes. They showed that they are easy to use, have a privacy policy, ensures the security of member data and checks on the quality of content. Based on the above findings, it is evident enough that the use of social media in health care is the best evidence-based practice and its use should be encouraged.

References

Kostick, K.M.; Blumenthal-Barby, J.S.; Wilhelms, L.A.; Delgado, E.D.; Bruce, C.R. (2015). Content Analysis of Social Media Related to Left Ventricular Assist Devices. Circ. Cardiovasc. Qual. Outcomes, 8, 517-523.

Skiba, D. (2017). Evaluation tools to appraise social media and mobile applications. Informatics, 4(3), 32-40. doi:10.3390/informatics4030032

Smailhodzic, E.; Hooijsma, W.; Boonstra, A.; Langley, D.J. (2016). Social media use in healthcare: A systematic review of effects on patients and on their relationship with healthcare professionals. BMC Health Serv. Res.