There has been a lot of noise recently about talking with patients on social media, there was a very insightful blog post on Wishful Thinking In Medical Education by Dr AM Cunningham about encountering patients online "Would you block your patient on twitter?" and it was this blog that inspired me at a recent NMC event.
I was very privileged to be invited to the NMC, as part of Social Media Week, to be on a panel discussing how nurses and midwives can communicate effectively with patients online. When I first saw the discussion title I thought that the 5 minutes that I had been allocated wouldn't nearly be enough to talk about a subject that was so broad and did not have a "one size fits all" 5 minute answer! However when writing notes on what must have been my one hundredth draft of what I was going to say I remembered Dr Cunninghams blog. The blog discussed the hypothetical scenario of "accidentally" (by accidentally I mean an encounter that the health care professional is unprepared for via their non work place account) encountering a patient online. I am sure it will very soon become a reality that patients seek out healthcare professionals online and ask advice and it is certainly something that all healthcare professionals using social media need to be prepared for. However it was not these "accidental" encounters that I decided to use my 5 minutes to talk about!
As a nurse I do not want a snatched encounter with a patient. I am a nurse who spends time developing and nurturing relationships with my patients so that I can know what their needs are and how best to help them,to care for them and empower them. Nursing is not an accidental encounter but an art and it is the art of nursing that we need to bring to social media.
Part of a nurses day to day to day work is to signpost information to patients, show them where they can get support, introduce them to helpful communities and impart knowledge to them and nurses are very skillful at doing this. - and the question that I asked at the NMC was can we do this via social media?
I write a lot on this blog about community and how communities can offer support through the exchanging of knowledge and sharing of experiences and expertise. Something that my journey from isolated agency nurse to a community empowered and connected nurse has taught me is that communities within social media are extremely powerful and effective. The type of social media nurse patient relationship I want to have is nurturing and supportive and most importantly one that helps and empowers my patient and I think that online communities could be a pivotal way of doing this. My patients deserve more than an "accidental" encounter and whilst I am happy to help anyone I bump into (within the remits of my professional regulation) I want to ensure that my patients get the best possible care.
So my five minutes at the NMC were very much considered and spent wisely - I am a nurse, I want to nurse in a meaningful way, I want to practise the art of nursing with my patients both offline and online.
