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

Abstract

This 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.

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“…It is interesting to compare the current findings to the small existing literature on the use of blogs to promote knowledge exchange in healthcare research and practice. Our findings diverge from the study by Khan et al [14] where 46% of healthcare staff used social media (not just blogs) for work-related tasks such as medical reading, and 11% engaged in online medical forums. It must be noted that the latter was conducted in America where perhaps different policies are in place regarding the use of social media at work.…”

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“…This may be more likely in fields like sport science, where employees are not required to have completed traditional academic pathways to work in the field. This is somewhat supported by research demonstrating that medical professionals use social media to support their own education (Khan et al, 2021), highlighting that even in "more academic" professions, practitioners regularly use social media to support their practice.…”

Examining Social Media Usage Patterns among Health Care Providers in Gondar Town: A Cross-Sectional Survey

“…With the advent of telecommunication technologies and social media, many healthcare professionals are using social media to communicate with their patients and to promote health (M. N. Khan et al, 2021). However, the literature reveals a gap in our understanding of healthcare professionals' perceptions of their behavioral intentions to use innovations.…”

“…With the rise of the Internet, social media marketing has become one of the most powerful tools and cost-effective ways to promote products and services. The use of social media sites by international companies as part of their promotion strategy has increased signi cantly in the past few years.With the advent of telecommunication technologies and social media, many healthcare professionals are using social media to communicate with their patients and to promote health (M. N. Khan et al, 2021). However, the literature reveals a gap in our understanding of healthcare professionals' perceptions of their behavioral intentions to use innovations.…”