The Use of Social Media in the Nursing Profession

The purpose of this thesis was to explore the potential benefits and risks that come along with the use of social media, within the nursing profession. Hence, the aim was to gain an insight regarding the impact social media has on registered nurses and their work. The following thesis was conducted using the literature review research method. In total 9 articles were deemed relevant to the research topic and were obtained from the following databases provided to students of Laurea University of Applied Sciences: CINAHL (Ebsco), SAGE premier 2016 and Laurea Finna. Critical appraisal of data was performed on all research articles prior to in-depth analysis, using the inductive approach of the qualitative content analysis. The findings of this literature review indicated that the use of social media within the nursing profession was beneficial to both nursing staff and healthcare consumers. The utilization of social media platforms enables registered nurses to enhance their nursing competence by obtaining evidence-based information in real time. In addition, nurses can take part in health-related political discussions, receive feedback from patients and facilitate multifaceted communication with healthcare consumers. Within the literature review, many studies specified that there is a lack of guidelines and policies within healthcare facilities to prevent the potential risks of social media use among registered nurses. There is a need for both national and universal guidelines, emphasizing what is deemed acceptable and not, in order for nurses to take full advantage of the benefits of social media platforms. The author recommends further research to be implemented on social media use among registered nurses in Finland. In addition, further, in-depth research could be conducted to explore, what registered nurses think about social media use in their working life, to gain the nurse’s perspective