Reviewing social media use by clinicians

Area of Science:

• Medical Informatics
• Digital Health
• Healthcare Communication

Background:

• Social media use in healthcare is rapidly evolving.
• Defining social media broadly to include social networks and reference sites like Wikipedia.
• Previous research indicates varying adoption rates among different healthcare professionals.

Purpose of the Study:

• To systematically review the adoption of social media by clinicians.
• To determine the extent of social media adoption in healthcare.
• To identify trends in institutional responses and challenges related to social media use.

Main Methods:

• Systematic review of articles published up to July 26th, 2011.
• Selection of 50 articles from an initial search of 370, including 15 adoption surveys.
• Broad definition of social media encompassing social networks and curated reference sites.

Main Results:

• High prevalence of Facebook use among health science students (64-96%) compared to clinicians (13-47%).
• Significant increase in social media adoption rates over the past four years.
• Widespread use of Wikipedia as a reference tool.
• Mixed success in integrating social media into clinical training.

Conclusions:

• Social media adoption by clinicians is increasing, particularly among students.
• Concerns regarding unprofessional content and patient confidentiality breaches necessitate the development of social media guidelines.
• Further research and policy development are needed to address the evolving landscape of social media in healthcare.