A narrative synthesis on healthcare students use and understanding of social media: Implications for practice

The aim of this review was to explore healthcare students' professional and personal use and understanding of social media.

A comprehensive search was performed in October 2017 using CIHAHL, Academic Search Complete, Education Search Complete, ERIC, MEDLINE and British Education Index. A further search was completed in February 2018 including Google Scholar.

A summary table was used to organise data by author, year, type of study, methods, findings, limitations, recommendations and additional comments. Qualitative findings were organised into related themes and these were reviewed and discussed amongst the authors to confirm their relevance.

The prevalent themes that emerged were; understanding social media, perceptions of professional & safe social media use, positive aspects of social media and factors influencing social media usage.

Social media is predominately used by students to communicate with peers and to access course related information. It can provide a collaborative environment which allows engagement and promotion of the nursing profession. Student nurses are generally aware of what constitutes safe and professional social media usage but there remains a need for additional training on how students should navigate the online world as there remains a significant risk of unprofessional behaviours.