Social Media And Health Care

Communication has been permanently changed by social media. A wide conceptual definition of social media, as cited in Ressler & Glazer (2010), is “The online and mobile accessible services that enable individuals to connect, collaborate, and share with others in real time.” Social media has an obvious influence on informal communication style and represents both possibility and liability for healthcare institutions. As cited in Bernhardt, Alber, & Gold (2014), “Social media provide healthcare professionals with tools to share information, to debate health care policy and practice issues, to promote health behaviors, to engage with the public, and to educate and interact with patients, caregivers, students, and colleagues.” It also presents challenges, including risks to information accuracy, organizational reputation, and individual privacy. Social media can be a very helpful in communicating among nurses and other healthcare providers while creating professional connections, and sharing experiences, but guidelines for appropriate use by healthcare providers are essential. Whether or not certain healthcare organization decides to use social media as a communications tool - social media policy still need to be implemented. Policies help establish an organization 's rules and expectations around social media.

In the world today, smartphones are becoming the “norm”, with basic phones becoming nearly obsolete in recent years. Pairing the overwhelming presence of social media with the rise in usage of smartphones brings to light an entirely new set of problems and challenges regarding patient privacy. According to a 2010 study conducted regarding various boards of nursing, 67% of executive officers surveyed reported receiving complaints about nurses misusing social media (Spector & Kappel,

There are many public service announcements, advertisements, or paid social marketing that target the health field. Methods that are used in other industries that can be use in hospitals is the emergence of new technology. Technology that offer easier communication to health providers and their patient. It will also enable them to learn skills that are needed in their daily lives or future jobs. Social media has also taken a huge toll on hospitals and health systems. Generally, social media is used to communicate things outside of the work field. Today, it is use to communicate messages about current and new issues. Overall, the methods of media is one of the innovation that helps to improve communication in the health care field. It allows easy understanding through the healthcare providers and its

HIPAA, otherwise known as the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, was enacted in 1996 which required organizations to devise methods to safeguard transfer and disclosure of personal health information (Shi, 2015). Protected health information (PHI) is any information about a patient’s health status that can be associated to a certain patient. HIPAA being the act that protects the spread of patient confidential information, can be violated on accident more than often. Social media, including Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Linked In, etc. has millions of users daily and users have the option to post or ‘tweet’ whatever they may want. Easily enough, HIPAA violations can occur through social media and the United States Department

Kaiser Permanente, one of the nation’s largest healthcare providers, is using the most popular social networking sites; twitters, Facebook, LinkedIn to grow its positive media presence and create a competitive advantage over other healthcare companies. According to Vince Golla, Director of digital Media and Syndication, “Social media tools, specifically Twitter has exponentially increased our position in the world of innovation.”

Social media in hospitals can affect the patient as well as the nurse and the nursing student. Westrick states: “Nurses must find a balance between taking advantage of the benefits social media use

Social media has taken over the way that we interact with one another. It is leading the way in which we communicate with family, friends, coworkers and strangers. It is also the way we keep up with our favorite celebrities and gossip. Social media and the use of smartphones are becoming more prevalent in business and the healthcare field as well. According to Pew Research Center, “62% of smartphone owners have used their phone in the past year to look up information about a health condition” (April, 2015). Technology, just like all things come with flaws

In the present culture of the United States, social media has had a major impact in American society. It has a profound influence and intertwined itself in almost every aspect of the average American’s life. It ranges from providing updates of location of a person(s), events, and sharing personal moments. Even different industries are utilizing social media as a platform for communication, information, and sales mediums. One industry, the health care field has seen a rise in the utilization of social media. For instance, an emerging population of physicians are using social media apps such as Snap Chat, Facebook, and YouTube to educate, display surgical, and medical procedures while being performed. In contrast, as there are positive aspects of utilizing social media, a negative trait of social media is invading and exposing individual’s privacy. As of recent, a New York licensed nurse had to surrender her nursing license and sentenced to 3 years of probation for “moral unfitness in the practice (Bowerman, 2016).” She took photos with her phone of two unconscious male patient’s genitalia and shared them with coworkers. This has become an increasing issue and as the utilization of social media in healthcare is increasing, many ethical issues are developing. For instance, the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) was passed for the adoption of a national standard for electronic health care transactions and code sets, unique health identifiers,

The rapid development of technology throughout modern society has initiated the widespread use of social networking. Social networking plays a positive role in healthcare when educating, communicating, or advertising. However, poor judgments have the power to turn this positive into negative and damage professional reputations. Griffith (2014) stresses the importance of understanding that protected health information is not a matter of open secrets. Whether a lawyer, doctor, nurse, or a secretary, it is important to avoid conditions that may influence the health and security of patients or clients, as well as their own professional reputation (Aylott, 2011). The Purpose of this paper is to explore the appropriate use of cell phones and social networking in healthcare and the importance of understanding the ethical boundaries between professional uses opposed to personal use.

While using social media can be valuable to doctors and nurses, inappropriate use of these tools can be devastating to a health professional career. Here are some examples

Incoming and outgoing messages whether it is email or social media need to be filtered and supervised at all times to prevent spam and virus mishaps. If unprofessional content is shared by the healthcare team, this may lead to tarnishing and a distasteful image of the profession. Another disadvantage that can be created is violating patient boundaries as they may extend to become friends on the social media platforms (Ventola, 2014).

“Perhaps the greatest risk in use of social media in health care is to the patient’s privacy and confidentiality” (Henderson & Dahnke, 2015, p63). Establishing a nurse patient relationship is essential in providing the best

Stokes, G., Barry, P. and Lambert, K. M. (2012) ‘Risk management and legal issues with the use of social media in the healthcare setting’, Journal of Healthcare Risk Management, 31(4), pp. 41–47. doi:

Diabetes technology and online patient presence has reached a point where social media could make a substantial impact on diabetes treatment. The ideas are already starting to take hold, with social technology like DiaSend and CareLink, as well as social networks like TuDiabetes and PatientsLikeMe, leading the way. The future of diabetes and social media involves patients and physicians sharing information with each other like never before. The benefits include more efficient hospitals and more knowledgeable and satisfied patients. Some problems arising from the use of social media include privacy and security, legal issues, and companies taking advantage of the networks. Overall, it is a project that is self-propelling, as the

Using this viewpoint, health care leaders can see the importance of using social media to stay in tuned with what patients are saying. For a health care organization to succeed they must provide quality care and quality service. If the patient population is not satisfied they are likely to vocalize their opinions to friends and families through social media. Health care leaders can create blogs or chats where consumers can express their concerns as a means to fix issues the organization may be experiencing. The information generated from social media can then be used by health care leaders to improve the organization, with the hopes of making their organization a leader in their community.