HEALTHCARE AND SOCIAL MEDIA
Healthcare and Social Media
Social media has created a brand new online world for healthcare. According to Nelson
and Staggers (2018), social media is defined as an online internet connection that allows creation
exchange and user generated content and the six core principles that differentiate social media
from other forms of communication include participation, emergence, collective, persistence,
transparency, and independence (Nelson & Staggers, 2018). Because of social media, healthcare
has improved in many different ways including telehealth, electronic medical records (EMR)
available online and on applications, as well as increased protection for patient healthcare
information. There are vast amounts of social media sites and types including video hosting sites,
blogs, social networking sites (SNS), and professional networks. Social media has improved
face-to-face relationships with patients and healthcare providers by helping empower and
improve the health literacy and communication of patients (Benetoli, Chen, & Aslani, 2017)
Types of Social Media
With all of the social media content available, there are many ways to use social media in
healthcare. SNS including Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok have developed quickly
over the last 5 years to now include pages on these SNS utilized specifically for healthcare.
These sites are used as a form of communication for healthcare providers to share information
and create awareness of medical issues and facts with their surrounding community. Blogs are
another form of social media frequently used to create personal content controlled by someone or
a group of people. Blogs are used as a place to write personal or general information that can be
shared with the online community. They are a great way to spread health awareness, as well as
personal information such as a cancer patients journey, or an Emergency Medicine provider’s
experiences, to name a few things. Lastly, YouTube is another form of social media which is a
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video hosting website where people or groups can post videos about information they find
interesting or educational. It is a great site to post healthcare knowledge obtained that one feels
the general public should know about, but people can also create a personal page talking about
their lives, or things they find interesting.
Impact of Social Media on Healthcare
Social media has both pros and cons towards its use in healthcare. According to a study
done at a large medical center in Chicago, IL., 87% of the nurses interviewed reported they use
social media on a daily basis (Lefebvre et al., 2020). That same study also found that healthcare
providers were able to connect better with patients online to promote health, share new research
with other healthcare professionals, and discuss scientific advancements with others across the
world (Lefebvre et al., 2020). Social media is also a great way to communicate evidence based
information and practices for their health and wellness, increasing patient autonomy in their own
health. Having patients educate themselves only increases their health and wellness, which is the
overall goal of healthcare providers. Another pro of using social media in healthcare is
advertisements for employment needs. Having social media outlets such as SNS to post job
opportunities helps grow the healthcare organization, expanding and increasing their reach in the
community.
There are some limitations when it comes to the use of social media within healthcare
organizations. One major con with social media in healthcare is patient confidentiality. It
becomes a risk to the organization when information is used on social media that includes a
patient or their personal information as it could go against Health Insurance Portability and
Accountability Act (HIPAA). The American Nurses Association (ANA) has placed a set of
standards when it comes to social media and proper usage and has done so for the protection of
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nurses and healthcare providers across the country (ANA, 2021). There is also a risk of
violations in professionalism and bullying that social media can bring about and place a
healthcare organization at risk. If social media is used while working, it can become a large
distraction and cause a decrease in productivity and mistakes that could cost people their jobs or
even lives. Overall, there are pros and cons to social media usage in healthcare and as long as it
is used appropriately, social media can become a great advantage to any healthcare organization.
Social Media Policies in Healthcare
Patient confidentiality became very prominent after HIPAA was enacted in 1996.
Because of social media and the new use of EMR’s there is a stronger need for HIPAA
enforcement and usage. Nurses and healthcare providers need to be reminded on a daily basis
about ethical and legal guidelines and principals surrounding social media use and what is
appropriate to post and not to post (Nelson & Staggers, 2018). Some main guidelines healthcare
organizations may have in place surrounding social media use includes posting pictures while at
your place of employment, sharing confidential information regarding the healthcare
organization or patients within the organization, or posting offensive or provocative content on
social media. If healthcare employees ever have questions about what is appropriate or not to
post on social media, it is always safe to ask the organizations human resources department who
have all the policies and procedures surrounding social media content.
Christian Worldview
Working as a healthcare professional, we are faced with difficult decisions and choices
daily. As a Christian, I choose to be thoughtful, self-controlled and self-disciplined not only in
my personal life, but my professional life as well. Social media can cause the truth to be
obscured, stretched and created into something completely different than what it was intended
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for. In the Bible, He writes “for we aim for what is honorable not only in the Lord’s sight but also
in the sight of man” (King James Bible, 1769/2017, 2 Corinthians 8:21). As Christian’s and
healthcare workers, we need to uphold truth and honesty as well as the integrity of ourselves and
our patients. Social media has a way of spreading information, true or not, very quickly, and as
nurses we need to remain professional and convey the truth within our social media posts. We
have not only our self-image to uphold but our patients as well.
In the world today, social media plays a vital role in communication and public
healthcare. Social media is used on a daily basis by most people and health information is easily
accessible because of this. Understanding the positive and negative aspects in social media
surrounding healthcare is vital to ensure patient privacy, confidentiality, and quality healthcare.
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References
American Nurses Association (2021). Social Media. (2022, Jan. 28th). Retrieved from
https://www.nursingworld.org/social/
Benetoli, A., Chen, T., & Aslani, P. (2017). How Patients’ Use of Social Media Impacts their
Interactions with Healthcare Professionals. Journal of Patient Education and Counseling
101(3) 439-444. http://doi.org/10.1016/j.pec.2017.08.015
King James Bible. (2017). King James Bible Online. Retrieved from
https://www.kingjamesbibleonline.org/ (Original work published 1769)
Lefebvre, C., McKinney, K., Glass, C., Cline, D., Franasiak, R., Husain, I.,…Stopyra, J. (2020).
Social Media Usage Among Nurses: Perceptions and Practices. The Journal of Nursing
Administration 50(3) 135-141. http://doi.org/10.1097/NNA0000000000000857
Nelson, R., & Staggers, N. (2018). Health Informatics: An Interprofessional Approach (2nd ed.)
St. Louis, MO: Elsevier
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