Abstract
BackgroundEngaging consumers - patients, families, carers and community members who are current or potential service users - in the planning, design, delivery, and improvement of health services is a requirement of public hospital accreditation in Australia. There is evidence of social media being used for consumer engagement in hospitals internationally, but in Australia this use is uncommon and stakeholders’ experiences have not been investigated. The aim of the study was to explore the experiences and beliefs of key Australian public hospital stakeholders around using social media as a consumer engagement tool. This article focuses on the study findings relating to methods, risks, and benefits of social media use.MethodsSemi-structured interviews were conducted with Australian public hospital stakeholders in consumer representative, consumer engagement/patient experience, communications or quality improvement roles. Qualitative data were analysed using a deductive content analysis method. An advisory committee of consumer and service provider stakeholders provided input into the design and conduct of this study.ResultsTwenty-six Australian public hospital service providers and consumers were interviewed. Participants described social media being used to: recruit consumers for service design and quality improvement activities; as an online space to conduct consultations or co-design; and, to gather feedback and patient experience data. The risks and benefits discussed by interview participants were grouped into five themes: 1) overcoming barriers to engagement, 2) consumer-initiated engagement; 3) breadth vs depth of engagement, 4) organisational transparency vs control and 5) users causing harm.ConclusionsSocial media can be used to facilitate consumer engagement in hospital service design and quality improvement. However, social media alone is unlikely to solve broader issues commonly experienced within health consumer engagement activities, such as tokenistic engagement methods, and lack of clear processes for integrating consumer and patient feedback into quality improvement activities.
Highlights
Engaging consumers - patients, families, carers and community members who are current or potential service users - in the planning, design, delivery, and improvement of health services is a requirement of public hospital accreditation in Australia
A recent scoping review of 40 studies conducted by members of this author team [6] found that social media has been used in a wide variety of ways by health organisations, service providers, consumers and the general public to engage in health service design or quality improvement (QI) activities, or to try and influence change in health services
Social media is used as a place to gather QIrelevant information, conduct consultative activities, collectivise and advocate for change, create networks between people working on projects, and as a virtual setting for collaborative discussions and project work [6]
Summary
Engaging consumers - patients, families, carers and community members who are current or potential service users - in the planning, design, delivery, and improvement of health services is a requirement of public hospital accreditation in Australia. Social media are online applications and websites that allow users, not just site owners or managers, to create their own profiles, generate and curate their own content, and develop social networks by connecting with other users [1]. A recent scoping review of 40 studies conducted by members of this author team [6] found that social media has been used in a wide variety of ways by health organisations, service providers, consumers and the general public to engage in health service design or QI activities, or to try and influence change in health services. Despite social media being a suitable place to conduct these activities, the use of social media for stakeholder engagement remains relatively uncommon in hospitals and health services [7, 8]
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