Abstract
Abstract Purpose The objective of this study was to investigate the healthcare professionals’ perceptions of using LinkedIn for professional development in the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia. Participants and Methods: A cross-sectional study survey was carried out among healthcare professionals from the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia during November 2018. The survey was initially distributed to 346 participants, and 312 of them returned the questionnaire. Of these respondents, 184 (61%) were LinkedIn users and met the inclusion criterion. Results The findings indicated that 61% of the participants used LinkedIn for several purposes in the following decreasing order: networking (26.61%), seeking employment (23.66%), knowledge exchange (13.98%), self-promotion (12.37%), professional development (11.56%), health promotion (4.03%), and all of the aforementioned purposes (7.8%). The respondents thought that LinkedIn was beneficial for improving knowledge about the profession (64.41%), creativity (58.19%), professional skills (53.11%), decision-making (48.59%), quality and patient safety (42.37%), critical thinking (42.37%), and problem-solving skills (39.55%). Also, 40% of LinkedIn users had attended online courses and training programs announced on LinkedIn; and 69% of them had received job offers through this platform. Conclusion Most healthcare professionals in the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia used LinkedIn for networking, seeking employment opportunities, knowledge exchange, self-promotion, professional development, and health promotion. Also, a large proportion of them attended online courses and professional training programs announced on LinkedIn and considered that LinkedIn was useful to improve knowledge about the profession, creativity, and professional skills. Overall, these results suggested that healthcare professionals in the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia perceived that LinkedIn can be used as a tool for professional development. Also, they thought that to achieve this goal, it was necessary to raise awareness of the usefulness of LinkedIn as a potential tool for professional development.
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