Social Media and Medical Applications in the Healthcare Context: Adoption by Medical Interns

Abstract

Introduction: The widespread use of social media (SM) and medical applications (Apps) have improved the healthcare delivery and continued medical education in many forms, especially during COVID-19 pandemic. This study aimed to explore the perspective and practice of medical interns on the role of SM and medical Apps in delivering healthcare. Methods: A mixed-methods approach was used to collect data via both semi-structured interviews and an online self-administered questionnaire. A total of 24 medical interns were interviewed (6 focus group discussions and 5 key informants’ interviews), while 889 interns completed the online questionnaire. Interviews and their transcripts were analyzed and presented as themes and subthemes and frequencies were obtained from the self-administered questionnaire using SPSS v. 28. Results: Our studied interns believed that SM and medical Apps in healthcare delivery should be activated and deployed more since they will be using it increasingly in the future. They considered medical Apps such as UpToDate and Medscape as reliable and valid sources of medical information. Participants agreed that official Saudi Ministry of Health medical Apps, Mawid and Seha (Sehhaty), made radical change in healthcare delivery during COVID-19 pandemic. Interns’ attitude toward using SM platforms in healthcare context changed during the pandemic as SM facilitated health promotion, sharing knowledge, and public health education. Nevertheless, interns discussed difficulties when health educating the public, and uncertainty regarding ethical and privacy aspects of communication with patients and colleagues via SM and medical Apps. Discussion/Conclusion: Medical interns’ use of SM and medical Apps for medical education and patient care is increasing. Overall, interns have a positive attitude toward the role SM and medical Apps can play in healthcare delivery; nevertheless, they were uncertain about related ethical and privacy issues.