Use and Views on Social Networking Sites of Pharmacy Students in the United Kingdom

Abstract

Objective. To investigate students' use and views on social networking sites and assess differences in attitudes between genders and years in the program. Methods. All pharmacy undergraduate students were invited via e-mail to complete an electronic questionnaire consisting of 21 questions relating to social networking. Results. Most (91.8%) of the 377 respondents reported using social networking Web sites, with 98.6% using Facebook and 33.7% using Twitter. Female students were more likely than male students to agree that they had been made sufficiently aware of the professional behavior expected of them when using social networking sites (76.6% vs 58.1% p50.002) and to agree that students should have the same professional standards whether on placement or using social networking sites (76.3% vs 61.6%; p,0.001). Conclusions. A high level of social networking use and potentially inappropriate attitudes towards professionalism were found among pharmacy students. Further training may be useful to ensure pharmacy students are aware of how to apply codes of conduct when using social networking sites.

An Analysis of Pharmacy Students’ Social Networking Service Activities and Perceptions Regarding E-Professionalism under the Newly Implemented 6-year Pharmacy Educational System in South Korea.

“…Comparing with this result, most pharmacy students (83.8%) in the United Kingdom responded that they invested less than 2 hours to use SNSs although a small percentage of the students (2.3%) spent more than 3 hours per day on SNSs. 12 These results may suggest that using SNSs plays an important role in keeping relations between participants in daily lives. One of the interesting findings from this study is that 40.5% of Korean pharmacy students indicated that a pharmacy employer should not consider a prospective employee's SNS profile in making a hiring decision.…”

“…Approximately 70% of students had Facebook profiles, but the percentage of Korean pharmacy students with Facebook profiles is lower than those reported for pharmacy students in the United States and the United Kingdom. 6,12 This may be because more than 90% of Korean's smartphone users have Kakaotalk profiles and this is overwhelmingly the No. 1 SNS used by Korean people.…”

“…3,11 Approximately 45% of pharmacy students at Queen's University Belfast in the United Kingdom indicated that they had posted content that they did not want a prospective employer or university administrator to view. 11,12 A study analyzing the first-year pharmacy students in the United States reported that approximately 65% of these students indicated their online images on Facebook accurately showed future images as healthcare professionals.…”

“…Consequently, it is necessary to comprehend current SNS activities and perceptions of pharmacy students regarding e-professionalism. Although several studies regarding professionalism of healthcare students on SNSs were conducted in foreign countries 3,[5][6][7][9][10][11][12] , these kinds of studies with pharmacy students have been rarely implemented in Korea. The objectives of this study were to (1) examine the use patterns of SNSs among pharmacy students and (2) assess students' perceptions regarding e-professionalism on popular SNSs under the newly implemented 6-year pharmacy educational system in South Korea.…”

Social media and professionalism

“…Using patient confidentiality in various postings 17 and writing disrespectful comments about colleagues and employers. 18,19 For instance, in a sample of 880 medical students in Australia, 20 34% reported to having unprofessional content in their social media accounts, for example, evidence of being intoxicated (34.2%), illegal drug use (1.6%), posting patient information (1.6%), and depictions of an illegal act (1.1.%). Unsurprisingly, many professional bodies have developed social media guidelines for its registrants in order to clearly delineate the professional responsibilities and expectations regarding social media behaviour by healthcare professionals.…”