The Impacts of Social Media Usage on Health Professionals’ Healthcare Services

Abstract

Background: The use of social media is mounting as the number of social media outlets, platforms and applications available continue to upsurge. Health professionals are welcome to use social media in their personal lives, and share workplace experiences despite its risk as it offers instantaneous posting opportunities. The aim of this study was to assess social media usage and its impacts on health professionals’ healthcare services at Debre Tabor Referral Hospital in Ethiopia. Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional study design was used to conduct the study at Debre Tabor Referral Hospital in Ethiopia from November 2020 to January 2021. An open online-based questionnaire was used to gather the necessary data for the study. It was distributed among three-hundred-fifty-eight health professionals who were opted through comprehensive sampling. Hence, descriptive statistics such as frequencies and percentages were employed to analyze the data. Results: Almost all (97.5%) health professionals were aware and willing to use social media networks. 63.4% of the respondents agreed on the positive uses of social media for professional development via medication clarification, updates from medical conferences and socializing with colleagues. However, only 15.1 % of the participants strongly agreed that using social media networks negatively affected healthcare services by hatred the quality of health information. Conclusion: The finding of this study disclosed that the participants were aware and willing to use social media networks for their professional purposes. The study also found that social media can be used as a source of reference. It is a good tool for professional development and disseminate healthcare news. Nonetheless, using social media networks negatively affected health professionals’ healthcare services by venomous the quality of health information, damaging their image and professional honor.