Social media and professional boundaries in undergraduate nursing students

Digital professionalism in preregistration nursing and midwifery students: A scoping review to explore perceptions of professionalism when using social media

AIM

This review aimed to scope the literature by examining preregistration nursing and midwifery students' perceptions regarding professional use of social media.

BACKGROUND

Digital professionalism refers to the competence required when interacting online, such as social network platforms by maintaining the values and attitudes which align with professional codes of conduct. With increasing social media platforms being used by nursing and midwifery students, there are concerns about professional behaviour and the implications for those who may not be clear on its use in the professional context of their profession.

DESIGN

Methodology included utilising best-practice guidelines for undertaking scoping reviews. The PCC framework (population, concept and context) was applied to this review; Population - preregistration nursing and/or midwifery students; Concept/s- professionalism when using social media platforms; and Context - preregistration (undergraduate) or entry level students studying either midwifery or nursing. The databases included in the review were MEDLINE, CINAHL, Embase (OVID) and Scopus due to their relevancy to health professional education, identifying 1087 articles up to May 2024, which were screened independently by two reviewers. Seventeen articles (17) met the inclusion criteria. Content analysis assisted with mapping of themes and subthemes.

RESULTS

The year of publication of the 17 primary studies ranged from 2012 to 2023. Twelve studies were cross-sectional, one was a randomised controlled trial, one was a retrospective analysis and three were qualitative designs. A wide number of countries were represented. Social media platforms included Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, WhatsApp, Snapchat, YouTube, WeChat, Ozone, QQ, Sina Weibo, TikTok and LinkedIn. Two major themes represented nursing and/or midwifery student views and experiences with their professional engagement when using social media, with a focus on digital professionalism: Professional Boundaries and Responsibility and Accountability.

CONCLUSIONS

There is a need to ensure nursing and midwifery students are aware of social media policies and procedures which must have a strong presence within preregistration curricula. Further research is required to co-design and facilitate clear guidelines and further education on digital professionalism.

Use and impact of the ANA Code: a scoping review

Adherence to professional ethics in nursing is fundamental for high-quality ethical care. However, analysis of the use and impact of nurses' codes of ethics as a part of professional ethics is limited. To fill this gap in knowledge, the aim of our review was to describe the use and impact of the Code of Ethics for Nurses with Interpretive Statements published by the American Nurses Association as an example of one of the earliest and most extensive codes of ethics for nurses with their interpretative statements and constituting a strong basis for the International Council of Nurses' Code of Ethics for Nurses. We based our review on previous literature using a scoping review method. We included both non-scientific and scientific publications to provide an analysis of codes of ethics which can be utilized in development and revision of other nurses' codes of ethics. In the searches, we used CINAHL and PubMed databases limiting publications to texts with a connection to the Code of Ethics for Nurses published from January 2001 to November 2022 and written in English. Searches yielded 1739 references, from which 785 non-scientific and 71 scientific publications were included for analysis of the data. Although non-scientific and scientific publications addressed different number of categories, the results indicated that in the both groups the use and impact focused on professional ethics, nursing practice, and work environment and less on education, research, or social health issues. Nurses' ethical standards were not addressed in non-scientific publications, and clinical issues and leadership were not in focus in scientific publications. To increase evidence-based knowledge of the impact of codes of ethics additional research is needed. Good scientific conduct was followed.

From hashtags to headaches: The risks of social media use for nurses

ABSTRACT

A 2022 incident involving a group of labor and delivery nurses who posted a social media video criticizing patients has put a spotlight on the importance of maintaining professional conduct on social media. This article outlines the risks of social media use among nurses, the possible consequences of social media misuse, and the benefits of providing social media guidance in nursing curricula.

Helping fourth year student pharmacists develop their professional brand

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE

Building a professional brand is an important skill for student pharmacists, as this could provide them with a competitive edge given the current market environment and employment opportunities. One way to do this is through developing a personal digital brand. A pilot program was created to introduce fourth year pharmacy students to the basics of personal branding and positive uses of social media for professional development and networking.

EDUCATIONAL ACTIVITY AND SETTING

A two-part workshop series was developed to introduce student pharmacists to the concept of personal digital branding and to help them optimize their professional documents (i.e. curricula vitae, resumes, and letters of intent). The workshops were offered in a virtual format and involved subject matter experts as well as alumni stakeholders. Students were asked to participate in pre- and post-surveys relating to their perceptions of professional branding and the usefulness of the workshop series.

FINDINGS

Prior to the workshops, students expressed a moderate interest in using social media for professional purposes, yet few felt confident in how to do so. Following the workshops, students indicated the information provided had been beneficial, and they all had action plans for developing their social media profiles and revising their professional documents.

SUMMARY

Initial findings suggested students are interested in and would benefit from training on professional branding. While this first attempt at such programming had limitations, such as being delivered to a small sample, the results provide insights for expanding and improving these offerings in the future.

Effectiveness of health communication courses on professionalism and social media competence among nursing students: A randomized controlled trial

BACKGROUND

The shaping and cultivation of professionalism of nursing students is very important for the improvement and retention of nursing workers' quality. In the context of social media, it is challenging for nursing students to use social media for health education. Health communication course has the potential to cultivate professionalism and social media competence of nursing students, but its role still needs to be explored.

OBJECTIVE

To evaluate the effectiveness of health communication course intervention on improving the professionalism and social media competence of nursing students.

DESIGN

A randomized controlled trial.

METHODS

The recruited nursing students were randomly divided into the intervention group (N = 50) and the control group (N = 51). The control group received routine nursing education. Intervention group received routine nursing education and health communication education courses. Both groups were required to submit a health communication work on any topic. The Nursing Professionalism Scale、Social Media Self-efficacy Scale and Social Media Experience Scale were used to evaluate the professionalism and social media competence of nursing students. The primary analysis used linear mixed models and followed the intention-to-treat principle.

RESULTS

The professionalism, social media self-efficacy and social media experience of students in the two groups were significantly improved, and the improvement of nursing students in the intervention group was higher than that in the control group. After the intervention of health communication course, there were significant differences in professionalism (p < 0.001), social media self-efficacy (p = 0.006) and social media experience (p = 0.013) between the two groups. Social media self-efficacy have an effect on professionalism (ꞵ = 0.22, p < 0.001, 95 % CI 0.17-0.26).

CONCLUSION

The health communication course significantly improved social media competence and professionalism, which was significantly different from the control group, revealing the educational value of the intervention.

TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER

ChiCTR2200058425.

Teaching Professional Boundaries in Psychiatric Nursing: Resource Development

BACKGROUND

A standard of practice in psychiatric nursing pertains to the ability to maintain professional boundaries within a nurse-patient relationship. Nursing students are inexperienced in maintaining nurse-patient relationships and are at risk of crossing professional boundaries. Research regarding boundary instruction and available resources is needed to guide educators.

METHOD

Psychiatric nurse educators (n = 11) and psychiatric nurses (n = 9) were interviewed to determine what resources psychiatric nursing educators use to teach professional boundaries to undergraduate students. Following the interviews and preliminary analysis, eight participants also attended a focus group.

RESULTS

Participants reported resources such as textbooks were useful for defining professional boundaries. Participants also described case studies as a resource available to help operationalize boundaries in psychiatric nursing practice.

CONCLUSION

Resources should be developed to address changes in care provision and technology to include cultural competence and guidelines for the use of social media. [J Nurs Educ. 2023;62(2):97-100.].

Social media usage of chinese nursing students: Attitudes, motivations, mental health problems, and self-disclosure

BACKGROUND

Excessive self-disclosure online may risk the reputations, mental health problems, and professional lives of nursing students. This study investigated nursing students' usage of social media, their attitudes towards social media, mental health problems and self-disclosures, and the relationships of these variables.

METHODS

A cross-sectional study was conducted online (n = 1054) with questionnaires of Fear of Missing Out (FoMO), Social Media Fatigue (SMF), Students' Uses and Views of Social Media (SUVSM) and self-disclosure in social media which included self-information shown on social media and information viewed by others.

RESULTS

Although most of them held positive attitudes towards social media, 17.4% of the participants acknowledged that they had posted inappropriate contents online and 37.6% witnessed improper posts from schoolmates or teachers online. SMF was affected by familiar with relevant regulations on the social media usage (β = -.10, p < .001), FoMO (β = .41, p < .001), and SUVSM (β = .17, p < .001). Additionally, nearly 1/3 participants reported their net-friends could view following information: gender, age, occupation, education level and location. Self- disclosure in social media was positively influenced by education (β = .10, p < .001), sharing moments or Weibo, etc. (β = .009, P = 0.009), time spent on social media daily (β = .11, p < .001), accepting stranger's "friend request" (β = .06, P = 0.047), FoMO (β = .14, p < .001) and SMF (β = .19, p < .001). Furthermore, effect of SUVSM on self-disclosure in social media was mediated by FoMO and SMF.

CONCLUSION

Inappropriate contents are posted and witnessed by appreciable proportions of nursing students. Positive attitude towards social media may strengthen FoMO and SMF, which may increase self-disclosure in social media in turn.

The relationship between social media usage by undergraduate nursing students and development of their professional identity: A correlational study

BACKGROUND

How nursing students perceive themselves as potential nurses in the future is defined as their nursing professional identity. Many undergraduate nursing students present positive attitudes regarding the use of social media. However, the influence of social media usage by undergraduate nursing students on the development of their professional identity is yet to be determined.

OBJECTIVE

To determine the relationship between social media usage by undergraduate nursing students and the development of their professional identity.

DESIGN

Descriptive, correlational, cross-sectional study.

SETTING(S)

Two universities in western Saudi Arabia.

PARTICIPANTS

Undergraduate nursing students who used social media.

METHODS

An online questionnaire was designed, and its contents were validated. It was then distributed via a Qualtrics link to students' email addresses and via social media between 4th September 2019 and 28th October 2019. Descriptive analysis including frequencies, percentages, medians, and interquartile ranges were reported. Additionally, a number of non-parametric tests were conducted to investigate the relationships in question.

RESULTS

In total, 484 questionnaires were included in the analysis. The participants who used social media for educational (p = 0.004), or for professional purposes (p = 0.015) had high scores on the PI scale. The professional identity scores were also positively associated among the participants who followed nurses (p < 0.001), shared their nursing experiences (p < 0.001), and acted as societal educators about the nursing profession (p < 0.001) on social media platforms.

CONCLUSIONS

Engagement with social media positively influenced undergraduate nursing students in the development of their professional identity. However, it is notable that the pedagogy of nursing education has been slow to adopt social media into nursing curricula. Nursing students require guidance in terms of how to use social media for their professional development.

Conceptualising professionalism in dietetics: an Australasian qualitative study

BACKGROUND

Professionalism is a vital aspect of healthcare and multidisciplinary teamwork. While there is substantive professionalism literature in medicine and an expanding healthcare professions literature, there is a significant gap in understanding professionalism in dietetics. There are very few research papers in the dietetics literature on this issue compared with other health professions. Given the multidisciplinary nature of healthcare, it is important to understand what professionalism means within each profession to develop shared understandings across healthcare teams.

OBJECTIVE

The study aim was to explore how dietetics professionalism is conceptualised by dietetic practitioners/preceptors, faculty and new graduates.

DESIGN

A constructionist exploratory qualitative interview study was conducted.

PARTICIPANTS/SETTING

One hundred participants (dietetic graduates, faculty and practitioners/preceptors), associated with 17 universities across Australia and New Zealand and from diverse geographical and work settings, participated in 27 group and 24 individual interviews from March 2018 to June 2019.

ANALYSIS PERFORMED

Thematic framework analysis was used to examine participants' understandings of professionalism.

RESULTS

Twenty-three dimensions of dietetics professionalism were identified, with the most common being communication and including four novel dimensions of professionalism (generational, emotion management, cultural capability and advocacy) not previously described in other professions. Professionalism as emotion management and generational adds new insights to the professionalism literature, expanding understandings of this vital aspect of healthcare. While high levels of consistency in professionalism understandings existed across the three stakeholder groups, some interesting differences were found. The profession of dietetics shares similarities with other professions in the ways professionalism is conceptualised.

CONCLUSIONS

Using these dimensions of professionalism as a framework for teaching and learning about professionalism will help in clarifying expectations and expand shared understandings about professionalism for dietitians, other health professions and across multidisciplinary teams.

Demographic profiling of Caribbean and United Kingdom student nurses' use of social media for professional development

BACKGROUND

Most students are adept in using technology and have developed skills and confidence utilising SoMe for professional purposes. SoMe is used by both registered nurses and student nurses.

PURPOSE

The purpose of this study was to investigate the professional use of SoMe by student nurses in Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica and the UK to guide, support and develop implementation of effective and appropriate use of SoMe for professional development.

METHODS

An online cross-sectional survey was completed by student nurses from the three countries. Data were analysed using descriptive statistics.

RESULTS

The main reason for using social media among Caribbean participants was to watch videos or short clips whereas in UK it was downloading articles. Over 75% participants of all ages believed that social media was likely to help their career. There is no social media guidance for student nurses in Trinidad and Tobago and Jamaica.

CONCLUSION

Our study demonstrated that social media is embedded in student nurses' professional development throughout their education, with some variation in their use by country. Despite the fundamental place that social media plays in student nurses' professional development, there is no national or international guidance on how student nurses should use social media for professional development.

Nursing Students' Perceptions of Smartphone Use in the Clinical Care and Safety of Hospitalised Patients

Smartphones have become an indispensable item for nursing students. The use of these devices in the clinical setting could have various effects on the clinical work of nursing students. This study was to explore nursing students’ perceptions of their lived experiences of smartphone use in the clinical setting, in regard to patient safety. A descriptive phenomenological study was carried out. A total of 24 nursing students from a university in the southeast of Spain participated in this study. There were 10 in-depth interviews and two focal groups from January to May 2020. The data analysis was performed using ATLAS.TI software to identify the emergent topics. The COREQ Checklist was used to prepare the manuscript. Three principal topics were identified that illustrated the nursing students’ experiences and perceptions of smartphone use in the clinical setting (1): Using smartphones in the clinical setting as a personal resource, (2) smartphones as a support mechanism for making clinical decisions, (3) impact of smartphones on patient care. The nursing students perceived smartphones as a support mechanism for making clinical decisions and for patient care. Smartphone use during clinical practicums may influence the quality of patient-centred communication and threaten clinical safety. The results of this study provide knowledge on the use of smartphones by nursing students in the clinical setting, which could help to establish measures that guarantee adequate patient care and responsible use of these devices.

Interpersonal communication, empathy, and stress perceived by nursing students who use social networks

AIM

The objective of this study was to explore interpersonal communication, empathy, and stress perceived by nursing students who use social networks.

DESIGN

A cross-sectional study was performed.

METHODS

A convenience sample of 135 nursing students. For data collection, the following instruments were used: The WhatsApp Negative Impact Scale, The Perceived Stress Scale, The Interpersonal Communication Competence Inventory, and the Jefferson Scale of Empathy. Data collection took place in February 2020.

RESULTS

A negative correlation was found between the WhatsApp Negative Impact and the Jefferson Scale of Empathy (rs = -0.204; p = .019). Conversely, a positive correlation was also observed between the Interpersonal Communication Competence Inventory and the Jefferson Scale of Empathy (rs = 0.212; p = .014).

CONCLUSION

Nursing students' use of new technology could be problematic and interfere with their therapeutic communication skills.

IMPACT

This study addresses the problem of social network use in the clinical setting and how this can influence nursing students' therapeutic communication skills with patients. The results of this study have showed that, among nursing students, social network use has a negative impact, showing decreased empathy. Likewise, students who show a greater level of empathy have better interpersonal communication skills. However, significant results were not found between psychological distress and problematic social network use. Therefore, it is necessary to perform additional studies that would further explore this aspect. This study allows us to explore the negative impact of social networks on therapeutic communication, with the aim of developing prevention strategies at university institutions.