Comparative assessment of attitudes among medical and dental professionals in Saudi Arabia toward e-professionalism using the SMEPROF-S scale

Background

Social media (SM) usage is on the rise among health professionals at all levels to align with the emerging digital and SM era. e-Professionalism is described as attitudes and actions that resemble traditional professionalism paradigms but are expressed through digital media. Although there are a number of studies conducted in the past several years measuring e-professionalism of medical and dental professionals, there is no validated scale to assess the level of e-professionalism among medical and dental professionals in Saudi Arabia. Therefore, this study aimed to assess attitudes toward e-professionalism among medical and dental professionals in Saudi Arabia using the SMePROF-S scale.

Methods

This cross-sectional study recruited 338 medical and dental students and practitioners from 20 cities in Saudi Arabia to complete an online SMePROF-S self-reported questionnaire measuring attitudes about e-professionalism.

Results

Among participants, 31.66% believed that it is acceptable to communicate with patients through SM, but only 16.86% agreed with communicating via personal SM account messaging. Many participants (35.80%-50%) fear that SM use can cause problems with getting hired, people making inaccurate assumptions and perceptions, and job losses. There were 31.36% who believed that sharing patient information without consent is acceptable. The majority (63.02%-63.31%) do not believe that medical/dental professionals should be barred from using SM, and 40.53% believe that schools/organizations have no right to interfere with their online activities. Only 22.19% believed that SM use removed professional protections from the public. A few statements were statistically different by specialty and gender.

Conclusion

There is a variability of attitudes about e-professionalism among medical and dental professionals in Saudi Arabia, with some alarming issues requiring national guidelines to ensure patient rights, privacy, and confidentiality.

Perceptions of professional social media interaction with patients and faculty members - a comparative survey among dental students from Malaysia and Finland

BACKGROUND

Professional and personal boundaries are blurred with the wide application of social media (SM) in the health professions line of work. Little is known about practice of extending friend requests to patients and faculty members among dental students, which encompass a part of E-professionalism. The aim of this study is to assess the factors associated with the perceptions and practices of interactions with patients and faculty on SM among dental students from Malaysia and Finland.

METHODS

Dental students from 4 institutions in Malaysia and Finland completed self-administered questionnaires on the practices and perceptions of SM use. The main variables assessed were the perceptions and practices of student-patient and student-faculty communication on SM, between the two countries. Students' country, age, gender, time spent on SM and perceived importance of communicating dental related aspects over SM were analysed as potential explanatory variables. Crosstabulation was used to estimate the distributions of the response variables by the background characteristics. Multivariate analyses were performed using a dichotomous logistic regression model to investigate relevant associations between the responses and the explanatory variables independent from other factors.

RESULTS

A total of 643 students completed the survey in March-April 2021. More Malaysian students agreed with "guiding patients online is a new responsibility for dentists in the digital age" compared to Finnish students (86.4% vs. 73.4%). Similarly, significantly more Malaysian students befriended patients (14.1% vs. 1%) and invited faculty to be friends on SM (73.6% vs. 11.8%). Expectedly, clinical year students befriended patients more than pre-clinical (13.8% vs. 6.8%). Significantly more students who felt 'communication of dental related issues over SM' were likely to extend friend requests to faculty rather than accept patient friend requests.

CONCLUSIONS

Social media regulations and socio-cultural practices contribute to dental students' attitudes and behaviour when befriending patients and faculty members on social media. Future dental curriculum should incorporate guidelines for professional communication on social media based on local and cultural needs. Students' should be encouraged to interact with their patients using professional identities on social media.

Digital professionalism on social media: The opinions of undergraduate nursing students

BACKGROUND

Social media are a suite of popular online technologies that enable people to share and co-create digital content. Evidence suggests some nursing students utilise social media inappropriately but there is limited literature on nursing students' opinions of professionalism in online environments. This study aimed to examine the opinions of nursing students in relation to digital professionalism on social media.

METHOD

A descriptive, cross-sectional study was conducted with undergraduate nursing students in the United Kingdom (n = 112). An existing self-reported questionnaire was adapted for data collection. This was distributed to adult nursing students enrolled across all four years of a Bachelor of Nursing programme. Data were analysed using descriptive statistics.

FINDINGS

Many nursing students were heavy social media users (n = 49, 44%), with Facebook, Instagram, and Snapchat being the most popular applications. Nursing students were also aware of the professional nursing regulator, the Nursing and Midwifery Council, guidelines on responsible social media use (n = 48, 43%). Nursing students' responses to various digitally professional scenarios revealed agreement that posts about alcohol or sexually explicit content, along with comments about colleagues or patients were inappropriate. However, there were mixed views around taking photographs at work, with some nursing students across all four years of the degree programme perceiving this to be satisfactory behaviour.

DISCUSSION

The opinions of nursing students towards digital professionalism on social media are somewhat aligned with professional standards, although students can hold varying views on the subject. More research on how nursing students employ social media is warranted to ensure their opinions match their actual practice in online environments. It is also recommended to educate nursing students about the professional values and behaviours required on social media and how best to communicate, interact, and share information on the various online platforms, to minimise personal and organisational risk.

A Preliminary Study on Uncovering Medical Students' Unprofessional Behaviors from YouTube Videos

Creation of guidelines and education on digital professionalism have been sluggish despite the ever-increasing use of social media by digitally native medical students, who are at risk of blurring the line between their professional and personal lives online. A qualitative thematic analysis was applied on 79 videos extracted from 70,154 YouTube videos uploaded by Korean medical students between March and April 2020. We found 20% contained at least one concerning behavior themed under 'failure to engage,' 'disrespectful behaviors,' or 'poor self-awareness.' Professional lapses identified were classified into seriousness levels. Mostly were "controversial' or 'concerning' but some 'highly concerning' contents were also found. This is the first study on digital professionalism behavior on medical students' YouTube videos. The potential negative impact on the medical profession of the easily accessible public online videos cannot be ignored and thus we suggest the need for them to be taken more seriously.

E-professionalism and social media use amongst nurses and midwives: A cross-sectional study

AIM

To describe nurses' and midwives' social media use, knowledge, attitudes and information needs, in the context of e-professionalism. A secondary aim was to identify any relationship between these variables and age, or professional role.

BACKGROUND

Midwives and nurses are viewed by the public as trusted professionals. On social media, the boundary between professional and personal identities can be blurred. Previous research has explored how student nurses navigate professional behaviour online, or e-professionalism. However, confusion persists amongst established nurses and midwives, despite the policies which guide and regulate their online conduct.

DESIGN

A cross-sectional designwas applied. The STROBE guideline informed reporting of the findings.

METHODS

A validated survey tool was modified to the study setting. Responses to 17 survey items were analysed using Chi-square and Fisher's exact tests. Qualitative content analysis was conducted on responses to two open-ended questions.

RESULTS

In total, 311 nurses and midwives from one Western Australian tertiary hospital participated between August 2019 and February 2020. Social media use was widespread (97.4%, n = 299). Associations were identified between age group and eight survey items assessing social media use, knowledge and attitudes. No associations were identified between professional role and social media use, knowledge and attitudes. Content analysis revealed five themes: Maintaining professional boundaries; Avoidance; Protecting self; Responsibilities and consequences; and Social media as a tool.

CONCLUSIONS

Midwives and nurses in this study approached social media with caution yet many were curious about its potential. If midwives and nurses are to be held accountable to social media policies and use the benefits social media affords, they must be supported to evolve into proficient users by educators and policy makers.

TWEETABLE ABSTRACT

Nurses and midwives must be supported through policy and education to embrace social media as a tool of the future.

Bridging the gap: Engagement of family and community physicians in digital networks for health issues

BACKGROUND:

The use of social media (SM) is unlocking infinite opportunities for healthcare disciplines and is fast becoming the preferred medium of communication. This underlines the importance of meeting the challenges of this new era. The aim of this study was to assess the readiness of Saudi family medicine physicians to the use of SM in health promotion and to explore their prospective attitudes toward its use professionally.

MATERIALS AND METHODS:

The two largest hospital-based primary care centers in the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia were used for the quantitative analysis. All known physician bloggers in Saudi Arabia from seven different cities were invited to participate in the qualitative aspect of this study. The quantitative component of this study was conducted in the Eastern Province at two main hospitals. A 37-item questionnaire was distributed to all family physicians practising at these hospitals. The qualitative component of this study covered all of Saudi Arabia, and 11 in-depth interviews were held with family physician bloggers, followed by verbatim transcription, content analysis, and coding of the results. Chi-squared and independent t-tests were used. All physicians at the two largest hospitals in the Eastern Province were invited to participate in the quantitative aspect of the study. The response rate was 86.2% (n = 159).

RESULTS:

Study included 136 primary care physicians; majority were <50 years old (96.3%) with 58.8% females. About 60% were residents and 27.2 % consultants, and 76.5% were were family medicine physicians. Ninety-six percent physicians had SM accounts, the mean use of 3 h per day, 46.3% of the family physicians had good knowledge of SM ethics, and 69.9% used SM professionally for medical issues. Most of the responses showed a strong positive attitude; more than 60% of the participants responded as “agree” or “strongly agree” to the positive statements.

CONCLUSION:

Organizations urgently need to design their own bioethical guidelines and rules on the safe use of SM by healthcare professionals.

Development and validation of scale for measuring attitudes towards e-professionalism among medical and dental students: SMePROF-S scale

BACKGROUND

Social media permeated everyday life and consequently it brought some changes to behaviour of health professionals. New form of professionalism emerged called e-professionalism depicting professional behaviour while using social media. There are a number of studies conducted in the past several years measuring behaviour of different populations of health professionals on social media and social media sites. Many studies have investigated aspects of e-professionalism of medical or dental students as future health professionals, but there are no validated instruments made for assessing attitude towards e-professionalism of those two populations. Objective of this paper is to validate a newly developed scale for measuring attitudes towards e-professionalism among medical and dental students.

METHODS

The original 32-item scale was developed and administered to 411 medical students (RR 69%), and 287 dental students (RR 49.7%). Exploratory factor analysis was used to investigate the existence of underlying factors. Principal component analysis was used as an extraction method with oblimin as selected oblique rotation method. Cronbach's alpha was used to assess reliability.

RESULTS

Total of 698 student answers entered analysis. The final scale had 24 items that formed seven factors named: ethical aspects, dangers of social media, excluding physicians, freedom of choice, importance of professionalism, physicians in the digital age, negative consequences. Cronbach's alpha indicating scale reliability was .72. Reliability conducted on each factor ranged from .570 to .877.

CONCLUSIONS

The scale measures seven factors of attitude towards e-professionalism and exhibits satisfactory reliability. Based on insights from validation, some possible improvements are suggested.

Pharmacy and medical students' attitudes and perspectives on social media usage and e-professionalism in United Arab Emirates

BACKGROUND

It is imperative to establish how students view and present themselves on social media and to assess level of awareness regarding the implications of their social media presence, e-professionalism, and accountability. The study objectives were to: 1) Determine the social media usage levels among medical and pharmacy students in the United Arab Emirates (UAE); 2) Characterize the students' views and perceptions, including their awareness of e-professionalism; and 3) Compare the responses in behavior between the two groups.

METHODOLOGY

A cross-sectional study was performed on 575 undergraduate students from two study disciplines, pharmacy (n = 325) and medicine (n = 250). Minor revisions were made to previously validated assessment tools and pilot tested. The study sample included students from five different universities across the country.

RESULTS

In comparison to medical students, pharmacy students were observed to use social media more for learning purposes (χ² = 6.8, P < .05). However, medical students' opinions reflected more strongly on the context of accountability and e-professionalism (χ² = 15.8, P < .05). A considerable proportion (89%) of students felt it was discriminatory for prospective employers to use their social media profile information for investigative purposes while hiring. One-third of respondents reported sharing information that they would not want their employers to view, and 67.1% reported the same for information relevant to patients.

CONCLUSION

The research findings converge to address the need for educators and administrators in the UAE to develop guidelines concerning its safe use and proactively integrate e-professionalism into their respective curriculum.

Promoting cultural sensitivity with the ethical and professional use of social media during global pharmacy experiences

INTRODUCTION

While the use of social media and blogging is an attractive and rapidly growing method to disseminate student reflections and information, the use of digital online methods of learning also require professional and ethical accountability. This commentary describes two approaches to using a checklist to promote the culturally sensitive, professional, and ethical use of social media platforms when students are expected to share their global pharmacy experiential experiences.

COMMENTARY

Social media sites and online blogs have the potential to enhance student experiences and promote intercultural competence of participants due to their ease of use and familiarity. If social media applications are used by students as a means of gaining self-awareness of cultural differences or promotion of cultural knowledge and attitudes, a framework for how to approach this process methodically should be employed by educators. E-professionalism criteria, such as self-evaluation of implicit biases, appropriateness of visual images, and timing of online posting can be used to set expectations as part of pre-departure training and to ensure ethical dissemination of online student reflections.

IMPLICATIONS

Pharmacy educators can assist students during global experiences abroad by improving their cultural competence when sharing reflections online. To ensure postings are culturally sensitive, ethical, and professional, consideration should be given to the deliberate use of a checklist that can assist with ensuring appropriateness of content and student reflections as part of a formal educational experience.

"From my Facebook profile": What do nursing students share on Timeline, Photos, Friends, and About sections?

INTRODUCTION

Social media is a platform where knowledge, experience, and thoughts are shared by society. Like many different users, nursing students also take part in this platform. While some researchers are evaluating social media as a new tool for training nursing students and patients, others are drawing attention to the legal, ethical, and moral problems of non-professional and inappropriate content sharing on social media. Since both sides maybe rightful in different aspects, this study was planned to understand why nursing students usually use Facebook which is one of the most popular tools.

AIM

The study aimed to define what nursing students are sharing through their Facebook accounts, whom they are befriending with, whether they use privacy settings and/or regret their shared posts.

METHOD

Content of nursing students' Facebook posts were examined in this cross-sectional, descriptive study. The study was conducted with 100 nursing students in a nursing faculty. Each student analysed their own Facebook account retrospectively and recorded their posts on the Facebook Review Criteria Form which was developed by the researchers.

RESULTS

Overall, it was found that 40% of the students "sometimes" hesitated before sharing information on Facebook due to safety concerns. Moreover, 51% of the students "rarely" regretted their Facebook posts. Students were using Facebook mostly for check-in (44%), and a smaller portion of them were sharing information related to health (27%). They mostly shared information and photos about themselves and did not share any photos related to patients and patient relatives.

CONCLUSION

Nursing students were found to be cautious about their Facebook posts. To maintain and develop students' cautiousness, their awareness should be increased about this issue during their professional education.

Social media in nurse education: Utilization and E-professionalism

OBJECTIVE

To explore faculty and student utilization of social media and its professional implications in nurse education.

METHODS

A descriptive study. Five hundred six Bachelor of Nursing students, 112 Practical Nursing students and 74 faculty members were invited to complete a questionnaire of 28 questions relating to social media.

RESULTS

Three hundred thirty-seven students and 29 faculty responded. Students spent significantly more time using social media compared to faculty and both groups used it mainly for personal use. However, almost twice as many students used social media for educational purposes than did faculty (58.5% vs 27.6%, p<0.001). While almost 96% of students used social media to talk about academic related problems, only 28% of faculty did so (p<0.000). Almost 60% of faculty expressly disagreed with using social media to discuss academic related problems. YouTube and text messaging were popular platforms for educational purposes. While Facebook was also a popular educational site for students (95% used it for informal learning; 67% for formal learning), it was much less commonly used by faculty (45% used it for informal learning; 17% for formal learning). More students than faculty felt that they were aware of privacy features, and of the professional behavior expected when using social media. In addition, more students (90.7%) than faculty (71.43%) used these privacy features (p<0.000). However, 100% of students compared to only 13.79% of faculty reported that they had posted information that they would not want a prospective employer/member of academic staff to view (p=0.003).

CONCLUSION

There is a high reported usage of social media among students and faculty. Utilization of public platforms, while potentially beneficial, can have professional implications if not used appropriately with both personal and academic use. Developing best practice approaches for using social media in nurse education is essential to ensure that faculty and students are informed of e-professionalism.