Social Media - Do I or Don't I?
The prevalence of social media participation among health care professionals encourages me to reflect on my own professional identity. As a health care professional working in direct patient care, I value the relationships that I develop with colleagues, patients and their families. These relationships however have boundaries and social media pushes these limits even without that intention. These risks have led the Nova Scotia College of Respiratory Therapists (2018) to release Social Media Guidelines for the profession. These guidelines have given me direction on deciding what I consider to be appropriate professional participation in social media.
I do participate in social media and have benefited both personally and professionally from participating in different platforms. According to Moorhead et al. (2013), “Social media brings a new dimension to health care as it offers a medium to be used by the public, patients, and health professionals to communicate about health issues with the possibility of potentially improving health outcomes” (p.8). One of the projects I have been working on involves designing a new piece of equipment to be used by the transport team for the next ten years. The end result I want is a highly functioning and reliable piece of equipment that is durable in the local climate. What is one of the first things I did? I posted to a targeted social media forum. The Neonatal/Pediatric transport team population is small and dispersed worldwide. Social media provides a platform where specific populations with similar interests can meet and collaborate. The ability to join communities across the world and engage in their experiences provided me with the expertise I was looking for.
I do recognize that any social media that I participate in should be done with caution. As a health professional, the image I portray to the public can directly influence an individual’s perception of my workplace and profession. My professional identity is ultimately my responsibility. Currently in my manager role, I have witnessed the impact social media has on people’s perception of individuals and their behaviours. I recently conducted interviews for a new position and one of the interviewers explored each candidate’s social media activities prior to the interview. This had a direct impact on how an individual scored on their interview. I now think about this every time I “Like” or comment on a post. It also emphasizes the point that without any additional context, how information is perceived and interpreted on social media will differ among individuals.
Another risk that I consider before posting on social media is inadvertently breeching privacy and confidentiality agreements that I have signed for my workplace. In an article by Ventola (2014), it is clear that any communication that is about or with patients on social media can result in legal action against the employee and the employer. Working on a helicopter provides many experiences that you want to capture through photos and share with the world. I have personally been able to look at these seemingly innocent photos and identify personal information than would be considered unacceptable. For this reason I have made the decision to no longer post photos of any activities during my shift.
Overall, I do actively engage in social media. I follow many different groups that I am interested in to further my knowledge and be resourceful. I want my colleagues to recognize me as a mentor and role model for our organization and profession. Social media is a fantastic way to promote positivity and engage others. For this reason I will continue to use social media as a communication tool. I am very proud of the teams I work within and how we are portrayed is important to me. In order to maintain my professional values I will continue to pause and reflect before posting and being active in social media.
References
Moorhead, S.A., Hazlett, D.E., Harrison, L., Carroll, J., Irwin, A., & Having, C. (2013) A New Dimension of Health Care: Systematic Review of the Uses, Benefits, and Limitations of Social Media for Health Communication. Journal of Medical Internet Research, Apr 23: 15(4):e85.
Ventola, C.L. (2014). Social Media and Health Care Professionals: Benefits, Risks, and Best Practices. Pharmacy and Therapeutics, 39(7), 491-499, 520.
Nova Scotia College of Respiratory Therapists (2018). Social Media Guidelines. Retrieved from https://www.nscrt.com/images/NSCRT_Social_Media_Guideline.pdf