Smartphone and Social Media Use in Healthcare Paper Example

Introduction

The innovations and advancements in the field of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) have greatly impacted on healthcare. Today, the nurses enjoy the use of ICT devices and techniques on their day-to-day operations. One of the ways through which ICT has transformed the nursing profession is that it has led to the availability of smartphones and social media which are used by nurses to perform a wide range of activities. Nurses can use smartphones to monitor patients, interact with them, attend to them, or to document their personalized healthcare information. However, the use of smartphones and social media in healthcare has not been all smooth because it has got some limitations. The purpose of this paper is to present a critical analysis of the application, advantages, and disadvantages of smartphones and social media in nursing (Moorhead et al., 2013).

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HIPAA Regulatory Requirements

The use of ICT in the nursing profession has become deeply-rooted. Today, the healthcare providers are permitted to use the mobile devices to perform a wide range of activities in the curse of serving their patients. However, despite its popularity, the use of these devices is subject to control by the HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996). According to HIPAA, the healthcare providers can use the mobile telephone devices to take, store, and share patient's health information. However, to do all these, the medics must ensure that they comply with the rules which stipulate that such actions must comply with the Protected Health Information (PHI). According to these regulations, the medics must take the necessary measures to ensure that everything to do with access and usage of the devices is based on the principle of best practice and for the best interests of the patients (Burdick, 2012).

Advantages of Smartphone and Social Media Use in Healthcare

Smartphone and social media are some of the ICT devices and innovations which have become popular in the nursing sector. Smartphone refers to the digitized mobile phone devices that contain high-tech features such as internet connectivity. Social media, on the other hand, is a website (online platform) that gives users an opportunity to sign up, create personal accounts and use it to interact, share ideas or publish any information. Social media include websites such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, MySpace, and many others. The use of smartphones and social media in nursing has many advantages.

Advantage One

The first advantage of smartphones and social media in healthcare is that they help in improving the improvement of communication between patients and healthcare providers. Communication is one of the key aspects of healthcare service delivery. For a nurse to serve the patients well, a nurse should possess excellent interpersonal communication skills such as critical listening, understanding, tolerance, and respect. These are skills which can be effectively demonstrated when the nurse and the patient use modern technology to communicate. For example, through social media, the patients can get to improve their conditions if they interact with other patents or healthcare providers (Moorhead et al., 2013). Social media can provide an informal platform that can be exploited by the patients and utilize it to improve their condition whenever they get an opportunity to do so.

Advantage Two

The second advantage of social media and smartphone is that they play a significant role in improving the quality of services rendered to the patients. Technology has had massive impacts in many sectors including nursing. In the nursing profession, these technologies are used in aiding the assessment, diagnosis, treatment, and management process of illnesses. For example, a nurse who uses the smartphones to document patients' data ends up doing a marvelous job because it guarantees accuracy in documentation and diagnosis. At the same time, the technology can help in enabling the nurse to monitor a patient to ensure that the management process is done as it ought to. The monitoring of the patients can be done through the use of phone calls or internet-enabled sensors (Househ, 2013).

Disadvantages of Smartphone and Social Media Use in Healthcare

The use of social media and smartphones has, indeed, helped in transforming the quality of service delivery and customer experience in the nursing profession. However, one thing that must be acknowledged is that the use of these technologies has not been all smooth. It has had some disadvantages that have prevented the social media and smartphone technology to achieve their full potential.

Disadvantage One

The first disadvantage of smartphones and social media usage in the nursing sector is that they are costly. The social media and smartphones involve two types of costs-acquisition and operational costs. For one to own a smartphone, one has to use a lot of money. Money is needed to buy the device and its accessories such as SIM cards and registration. At the same time, to use the device, one has to incur lots of costs. Its operation costs involve the money used for acquiring the internet bundles and the charging of batteries. At the same time, the smartphones might require additional expenses for the replacement of worn out parts or repair. Social media usage is also not cheap because it requires one to be in possession of an internet-enabled smartphone, laptop or desktop as well as internet costs. This shows that the device might not be easy to acquire and operate by everyone. Such costs might bar many people from accessing and effectively utilizing smartphones and social media.

Disadvantage Two

The other disadvantage of social media and smartphone is that they are prone to misuse. Although the devices should be used in advancing the delivery of healthcare services, there are cases in which the social media and smartphones have been misused. That has occurred because there are users who take advantage of the freedom or accessibility to infringe on the privacy rights of others (Moorhead et al., 2013). Such situations might arise when one publishes another person's confidential information in the social media. This is not only unlawful but an immoral act that should not be entertained because it does more harm than good. The infringement of privacy rights is a serious violation that should not be done by any medic or patient. That is why HIPPA has come up with regulations to control the usage of the smartphone and social media.

Conclusion and Recommendations

ICT is a novel innovation that should be embraced and supported by everyone. It has transformed human life in all aspects. The manner in which the smartphone and social media technology have been applied in nursing demonstrates o useful ICT has become. Despite its significant roles in enhancing the communication, assessment, diagnosis, and treatment process, the use of smartphones and social media has not been fully-exploited because it has been hindered by the inconveniences that arise from its costs and misuse. In this regard, to address these problems, the government should come up with new policies to relook the costs and regulations.

References

Burdick, K. (2012). Noelle Marie Upton: Using Social Media to Enhance Nursing Education. Journal Of Nursing Education, 51(7), 416-416. doi: 10.3928/01484834-20120620-02

Househ M. (2013). The Use Of Social Media In Healthcare: Organizational, Clinical, And Patient Perspectives. Stud Health Technol Inform. 2013; 183:244-248. [Pubmed].

Moorhead, S., Hazlett, D., Harrison, L., Carroll, J., Irwin, A., & Hoving, C. (2013). A New Dimension of Health Care: Systematic Review of the Uses, Benefits, and Limitations of Social Media for Health Communication. Journal Of Medical Internet Research, 15(4), e85. doi: 10.2196