A Study to See the Effect of Social Media Usage Among Healthcare Providers.

Mohammad Noah Khan,Abdul Basit Jamal,Muhammad Jamshed,Sarah Craig,Ahmad Faraz,Waqas Ilyas,Fatima Ahmad,Waleed Riaz

doi:10.7759/cureus.16350

Abstract

PurposeThis study aimed to assess how healthcare professionals (HCPs) use social media to determine how it influences the quality of patient care.Materials and methodsThis is a cross-sectional study conducted over eight months, between August 2020 and March 2021 using a questionnaire and checked amongst investigators.ResultsOne hundred fifty-eight participants had electronic devices and 145 (91.9%) used social media at work. 26.6% of these HCPs said they spent less than an hour on social media forums, 31% said they spent one to two hours, 28.5% said two to three hours, and 13.9% said they spent more than four hours. As compared to nurses (46%), consultants and pharmacists use social media at a much lower rate (1% for each group). Compared to junior doctors, a higher percentage of nurses (40%) said they were aware of a social media policy at their hospital (8%). A quarter of healthcare employees (20%) were unaware of their workplace policy, potentially exposing sensitive medical details to the public. More research is needed to assess the particular effects of these results on patient care quality and can help in providing literature informing applications encrypted and secure patient data.ConclusionAccording to our results, a large percentage of healthcare quality professionals used social media networks. A significant proportion of doctors and nurses use it to visit online medical forums for improving education. A large portion of surveyed sample was unaware of hospital policy on social media usage. Further education is required to improve the right use of social media in the hospital setting.

Highlights

Previous studies on social media utilisation in healthcare recognise impacts of social media utilize by patients for wellbeing-related reasons inside the healthcare framework
One hundred fifty-eight participants had electronic devices and 145 (91.9%) used social media at work. 26.6% of these healthcare professionals (HCPs) said they spent less than an hour on social media forums, 31% said they spent one to two hours, 28.5% said two to three hours, and 13.9% said they spent more than four hours
A higher percentage of nurses (40%) said they were aware of a social media policy at their hospital (8%)

Summary

Introduction

Previous studies on social media utilisation in healthcare recognise impacts of social media utilize by patients for wellbeing-related reasons inside the healthcare framework. Social media can serve as a help to patients [1]. The advance of online technologies will support practitioners in collecting, managing, and interacting for higher quality service. Poor quality of information, patient confidentiality, and legal issues are some risks and challenges that could impact the effective and beneficial integration of online platforms [1]. Studies have analysed the rate of social media adoption and usability from the point of view of different stakeholders. A study found that the degree of popularity and awareness is higher in undergraduate than in postgraduate circles. The study revealed that both groups had an interest in the use of new technologies [2]

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