Healthcare social media encompasses the use of many social media platforms by both patients and clinicians, including nurses, in order to share information, stories, experience, and form communities.

Getting Nursing News (Whether You Like It Or Not)

By Gail M. Pfeifer, AJN news director

During a recent public radio interview between Anita Dunn, a Democratic strategist and former senior advisor to President Obama, and Republican strategist Frank Luntz (author of Words That Work: It’s Not What You Say, It’s What People Hear), Dunn remarked that folks “increasingly seek people they already agree with to get their news from.” (Here’s the show’s transcript.)

That is a sad commentary on the state of news journalism today. By definition, a journalist’s report should be fair and unbiased. And news reporting, above all, should be held to that high standard.

If you read AJN’s news department regularly (here’s the current issue’s table of contents; scroll down to find links to the new articles), and we hope you do, we should tell you how we try to maintain such standards. […]

2016-11-21T13:12:44-05:00June 10th, 2011|healthcare social media, nursing perspective|0 Comments
Read More

Bullying Wars: Theresa Brown vs. ‘the entire physician profession’

By Maureen Shawn Kennedy, AJN editor-in-chief

On May 11, an op-ed piece written by nurse and New York Times blogger Theresa Brown on bullying by physicians caused some physicians to protest (full disclosure: Brown’s honest and moving ethical meditation on a very different topic, “Right Treatment, Right Patient?”, was just published in our June issue).

Notable among her critics was Kevin Pho of the popular blog, Kevin MD, who wrote that Brown “unfairly blames doctors for hospital bullying.” He claimed that Brown uses her writing outlet to “metaphorically bully the entire physician profession.” Another commentary (by physician Ford Vox, writing in The Atlantic Monthly) accused Brown of publicly “drawing and quartering” her colleagues.

Spare me, please. Brown used a recent personal encounter to illustrate a problem that is, unfortunately, commonplace in hospitals.  She used it as a lede and parlayed the story into an insightful piece about bullying in hospitals.  (From experiences I had and witnessed during my clinical years, I actually thought it was a fairly mild example.) Ironically, the strong language used to counter Brown’s commentary made it seem that physicians were trying to bully Brown into silence because she’d spoken out. As if to say: how dare a nurse challenge physician behavior?  […]

2016-11-21T13:12:51-05:00June 1st, 2011|career, healthcare social media, nursing perspective|7 Comments
Read More

Some Fun Friday Food for Thought

By Shawn Kennedy, AJN editor-in-chief

With rain and gray clouds clinging to the East coast, this week seemed especially long. Commuting into New York City took much longer than usual, but on a positive note, there was more time to listen to the radio or read the paper. This week, some of us at AJN came across some interesting stories. They got us through ‘til Friday, so we’re sharing them—they’re too good to keep to ourselves.

  • One staffer’s reading turned up this piece: the Ford Motor Company is developing in-vehicle monitoring of diabetes and allergies. According to the article, it’s “aimed at helping people with chronic illnesses or medical disorders such as diabetes, asthma or allergies manage their condition while on the go.” Meaning, while driving?
  • As we were having a laugh about what this scenario might look like in reality, one editor spoke of a friend who, while driving herself to the hospital in labor, was using an iPhone app to monitor contractions. I wonder if there’ll be new laws against using health apps while driving…
  • My favorite story has nothing to do with nursing, but I can’t resist sharing it. Time.com ran a story about the possible end of the world, which some people think will happen Saturday. What’s startling is that some companies are already cashing in. One company called Eternal Earth-Bound Pets has the answer for those worried about pets left behind: its representatives are confirmed atheists—they’ll take care of the pets.

I’m not sure who said it, […]

2016-11-21T13:12:56-05:00May 20th, 2011|healthcare social media|1 Comment
Read More

Nurses, Hospitals, and Social Media: It Depends What Business You’re In

Hospitals with social media policies are not necessarily squelching their employees' right to freedom of speech. They don't want to spend time and money in court defending their public image. They already spend lots of money on marketing. They are in the business of patient care, not entertainment. So hospitals with social media polices take the position that you can post or tweet to your heart's content, but should keep in mind the following:

2016-11-21T13:14:17-05:00January 19th, 2011|career, healthcare social media, Nursing, Patients|2 Comments
Read More

Placenta Facebook Photos: Nurse and Mommy Tribes See Student Expulsion Differently

Will patients trust that when they are anesthetized they will be treated respectfully? Will hospitals and other clinical agencies be less inclined to host students for fear of litigation over privacy? I imagine at the very least, all nursing schools are now quickly developing social media policies. The American Medical Association has one and the American Nurses Association is, I’m told, developing one.

2016-11-21T13:14:21-05:00January 12th, 2011|career, Ethics, healthcare social media, nursing perspective, students|14 Comments
Read More

Comment ground rules

1. Please be respectful.
2. We moderate all comments.

Content disclaimer

Views expressed on the blog are solely those of the authors or persons quoted. They do not necessarily reflect AJN’s views or those of Wolters Kluwer Health/Lippincott Williams and Wilkins.
Go to Top