Editor’s Notebook: Nurses and Social Media
January/February 2013
Editor’s Notebook
Nurses and Social Media
Working on an article for this issue (pg. 32), I conducted a brief survey of 12 nurse executives, which included a question about social media. Their responses confirmed my sense that most healthcare professionals are interested but tentative in their use of social media.
I value social media (especially LinkedIn and Twitter) as useful tools for professional networking, information exchange, and breaking news. I do most of my work on computers, and I’m usually online—very different from a typical nurse’s work routine. I often wish I knew more about how nurses view social media as a professional tool and what they find most helpful. Now, through the nurse executive survey, I know a bit more.
Two of the nurses I surveyed (and are included in the article) are accomplished users of social media. Barbara Olson, (who I first knew as @SafetyNurse on Twitter) is senior patient safety officer at LifePoint Hospitals and writes a medication safety blog, On Your Meds: Straight Talk about Medication Safety, on the Medscape platform. She reports,
I do use social media, and I find it very useful for knowing what is happening in the discipline of patient safety. I follow activity in the Twitter hashtag #ptsafety (patient safety) on a regular basis, helping to curate a virtual clearinghouse of links that a wide array of stakeholders—patients, clinicians, vendors, regulators, and accreditors—find valuable.
When I first started mentioning my “Twitter buddies” a few years ago, people seemed to think I had the adult equivalent of imaginary friends. But the Twitter connection has made it easy for me to begin networking with others who share a passion for improving health outcomes in a way that is casual, time-efficient and fun. Many of my Twitter buddies have become valued friends and colleagues who I see and interact with in the “real world.” There’s plenty of room for others in the #ptsafety space, and the learning curve is not hard to master!
Susan Niemeier (@SusanNiemeierRN) is chief nursing officer at Capsule, a medical device integration company that surveyed nurses during Nursing Week in May 2012 about their use of social media. Seventy percent of the Capsule survey respondents work in hospitals, and their responses generally confirm my observations. The full survey results are available at www.capsuletech.com.
Aside from these super-users, most nurses I heard from use LinkedIn to network and communicate and many read blogs for ideas and information. Not surprisingly, nurses in hospitals were less likely to use social media professionally than nurses in businesses and organizations. One hospital executive reported, “Firewalls significantly limit access to these media for on-duty staff,” which is not uncommon. Most professionals, including nurses, now recognize at least some value in social media, especially as a tool for professional networking and learning. I’m interested in continuing to learn how best to use these tools to support their work. You can find me @SusanCarr, on LinkedIn, and at susancarr@psqh.com.