Social Media Platforms For Healthcare

In the contemporary business environment, social media matters across all the industries, and the healthcare is not an exception. Since more and more people are becoming active on the social media platform, the field of healthcare has embraced it and have incorporated these platforms has number of the strategies of healthcare. The medical facilities and healthcare entities have seriously commenced examining the social media’s role in the relationship between the physicians and patients, and the way that connects to the different health informatics systems (Lim, 2016). Hence, this report aims to discuss about the benefits and risks of using the social media in modern healthcare.

The medical professionals use the social media platforms so as to be on the top of the trends of social media, and effectively communicate with the patients. The physicians can use the tools of social media to create the interactive strategies of patients, such as direct engagement with patient through twitter, Instagram, or Facebook. Doctors can use these platforms to communicate with the patients and share the information regarding their private practice or medical organization, and also make the way for the patients to create an online community on different platforms and communicate with each other (Rolls et al. 2016).

The social media use in healthcare gives the physicians an access to the materials, which can improve their practice. Further, nurses can also use the social media platforms to update patients on the news from their medical facility or hospital. It can help in providing a means through which caregivers, patients, and parents can ask the questions and get the direct answers. They can also use the social media to create an online community for the nurses who works in hospitals, or can create the online communities with the nurses who use to work in the similar departments across different entities (Buttigieg, 2016).  Benefits And Risks Of Using Social Media In Modern Healthcare Essay Paper

As per NMBA, the professional can meet the obligations when using the social media by conforming with the confidentiality and privacy, obeying the professional requirements as per the code of conduct of the board, maintaining the professional limits, communicating in the professional manner and respectfully with the patients, employers, and colleagues, and others; and not encouraging false or misleading information (Nursingmidwiferyboard.gov.au. 2019).

The governing bodies’ guidelines are mainly focused on the threats or risks related with using the social media platforms that although required, may prevent creative experimentation with the social media. Further, the guidelines of social media must be designed in a way that can help the users of social media to identify the kinds of challenges and opportunities that arise in the new and changing digital platforms. These guidelines suitable to the professional conduct in the offline in-person settings, can help in providing the useful model for the way one must conduct oneself on the online platforms (Arigo et al. 2018).

There are various healthcare social media guidelines that are based on the suggestions by the different medical organizations, such as NMBA, AMA, British Medical Association- social media: practical guidance and best practice (2018), and many others (Hennessy et al. 2019).

Benefits Of Using Social Media In Healthcare

The social media use by the healthcare professionals influences the public policy. The likelihood for the online engagement of public in the health policy and research continues to be unrealized, especially among the vulnerable populations. The information shared by the government on the social media platforms may not be reached to the population that still not have an access to the smart phones (Bridgman et al. 2020).

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Undoubtedly, social media play a major role in the marketing efforts, patients’ engagement, and the overall sense of the communication within the healthcare industry, but the growth of such tools come up with the other issues that must be kept in mind within the healthcare setting, such as legal ramifications. The social media use by the professionals of healthcare poses the potential legal issues. It affects the privacy, consent, and confidentiality of the people. Security and privacy are the top most concerns of the consumers on sharing the information related to health. The other concerns include content ownership, unauthorized activities, intellectual property infringement, and regulatory compliance (Gelinas et al. 2017).

There is high social risk of using the social media in the healthcare. Some of these risks include social influences, cyberbullying, and others. This leads to loneliness, depression, low self-esteem, social anxiety, and others. Sometimes the professionals or patients, or nurses get targeted by a group of people on social media, who bully a person by trolling or by using comments, which adversely affects the person.

The social media use in the healthcare helps in building the support networks. Patients can rely upon the social media for the moral as well as the financial assistance from all across the world in the tough period and they can access the information that are associated with their health issues and can easily learn regarding the other outcomes of the patients. The healthcare organizations can make a wide social network from across the globe with the help of social media (Chung, 2013). The healthcare professionals may consider to set up the page of Facebook that contains the relevant health information, so that the patients can access that information; and they might also open a Twitter account to enable transmission of the information on the professional news and to the network with the colleagues (Pershad et al. 2018).

The social media use provides huge support to the nurses. The social media permits nurses to connect with their professional and personal lives, create self-reputation by sharing skills and accomplishment, enabling conversations with the colleagues regarding the healthcare advancement, updated with the present best practices, connecting with the nurses and the healthcare organizations from all across the world, and much more.

The social media use can help in improving the patients’ outcomes. Social media can help in empowering the patients with the help of giving them an access to the information as well as opportunities for the discussions that increases the involvement of patients in the clinical interactions. Ultimately, the empowerment of patient helps in increasing the patients’ ability to communicate with the professionals of healthcare.

Risks Of Using Social Media In Healthcare

The use of social media in healthcare help in improving communication for the health professionals and the patients. The social media is quite beneficial in the healthcare, since it can serve as the effective means of the communication for the patients and the providers of communication, since they can communicate from anywhere and anytime on real-time basis (Best, Manktelow & Taylor, 2014).

Conclusion

Therefore, it can be concluded that the social media platforms are playing key role in the contemporary healthcare environment. The social media platforms and the social media-driven strategies can help in creating a comprehensive public healthcare. There are various benefits that come up with creating the effective healthcare plans with the patients and communicating with the potential patients through the platforms of social media. However, there are various challenges of using THE social media in the healthcare. The medical professionals must be mindful of the likely benefits and risks related with the social media platforms. 

Reference

Arigo, D., Pagoto, S., Carter-Harris, L., Lillie, S., & Nebeker, C. (2018). Using social media for health research: Methodological and ethical considerations for recruitment and intervention delivery. DIGITAL HEALTH, 4, 205520761877175.

https://doi.org/10.1177/2055207618771757

Best, P., Manktelow, R., & Taylor, B. (2014). Online communication, social media and adolescent wellbeing: A systematic narrative review. Children And Youth Services Review, 41, 27-36. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.childyouth.2014.03.001

Bridgman, A., Merkley, E., Loewen, P., Owen, T., Ruths, D., Teichmann, L., & Zhilin, O. (2020). The causes and consequences of COVID-19 misperceptions: Understanding the role of news and social media. Harvard Kennedy School Misinformation Review. https://doi.org/10.37016/mr-2020-028

Buttigieg, S. (2016). The power of social media – how can public health professionals make the best use of social media. European Journal Of Public Health, 26(suppl_1). https://doi.org/10.1093/eurpub/ckw164.080 . Benefits And Risks Of Using Social Media In Modern Healthcare Essay Paper