ARTIKLID LÕPUTÖÖDEST
SOTSIAALMEEDIA KASUTAMINE TERVISHOIUS
The use of social media in health care
Tiina Kukkes, Sander Tamm, Kadri Silde
Abstract This literature review was aimed to describe the use of social media in health care and the possibilities associated with it. For this purpose 24 different literature sources were used, 18 out of which were review articles and 5 original research articles. Social media is used daily by both patients and health care staff. The popularity of social media has influenced all aspects of our lives and health care is not an exception. Little is known about the usage of social media in health care in Estonia, although multiple international studies suggest that in future social media will play an important role in the education of health care staff, patient treatment outcomes as well as in sharing information related to health care. Both health care staff and patients have multiple motives for using social media, such as increasing knowledge, communicating with each other and looking for social support. Because of such motives, there are different ways of using social media in health care. Patients can participate in social networks where they can share their experience and emotions with others and in doing this, decrease their feelings of solitude. Health care staff can create international support networks which give doctors an opportunity to share professional knowledge without geographical limitations. Despite this, social media also brings multiple potential problems with it. All parties involved are worried about the breaching of confidentiality and privacy. Another problem is that a lack of technical skills continues to be a barrier for a large portion of the population. Keywords: health care professional, patient, social media, radiography, professional development, health care 79
