I work as a registered nurse at children’s ward at Kuopio University hospital. Currently I am home with my youngest child. At work I use daily patient record system (Omni360), Weblab-system to order labs and check lab results and Oberon to check in and out patients. In Titania we can plan our shifts and keep on track on our actual working hours. Microsoft Office apps are used daily. We have a meeting in Teams every morning and other apps are used for example for checking care instructions and orienting colleagues. If we don’t have enough staff we can make a request to Kuntarekry for additional nurses. We have a smartphone in every shift which we use for calls, patient call system and it has a app which we use to follow our patients vital measurements. Measurements transfer to patient record system automatically. By smartphones we can take pictures e.g. from wounds and transfer them from the app directly to patient record system. Lots of different technology is used at the ward, for example insulin pumps, patient monitors, infusion pumps and devices to help with respiratory problems. We get regularly new devices and systems. We have few iPads for the patients to play and watch videos. The functions on iPads are limited due to safety reasons. We don’t use any social media apps in my unit but the Wellbeing Services County has profiles on Instagram, X and Facebook.
Social media – Pros and cons
From my point of view the chances to use social media at work are quite limited. We need to take care of patient confidentiality and overall safety. We need to make sure that a hospital is a safe place and that any publications doesn’t show anything about safety (e.g. safety exits). For patients social media publications can be helpful if they contain information about procedures or arriving at the hospital. Information on social media is usually easy to access and understandable.
Like any other thing social media has pros and cons. It is easy to keep up with your friends and family via social media and it is easy to find information about almost anything e.g. on Instagram. On the other hand it is easy to overshare on social media or act neglectfully. It is too easy to compare yourself to the others and forget that not everything is seen on social media. Fake news and filtered publications are a risk if media reading skills aren’t up to date. Location sharing on social media can be a huge safety risk. Social media is easy, quick and cheap way to communicate but it’s crucial to remember boundaries so that the use is safe and under control.
Successful use of digital application
If digital application is used at work the use needs to be somehow controlled. If application is a social media app it is a good idea to have a social media coordinator/ambassador at work place. The coordinator has a clear view of the use of the app. Application users have to be oriented well so that the use is as smooth as possible. Users also have to be willing to commit to using the app. Safety and security aspects must be considered. Accessibility is an important feature to consider. App should be easily accessed and special needs should also be considered.
Social media tools at work
For the new services i chose ChatGPT, Instagram, X, Asana and Youtube.
ChatGPT could be used to creating care instructions and checking spelling. It could also be fun to ask ChatGPT to give the nursing staff ideas what to do with kids, hence we also come up with entertainment and crafting ideas. Hospital stay can be boring and frightening for kids and adolescents so it’s important to have something else to think about.
Our ward could have a own Instagram account. Many wards already have their own accounts and social media ambassadors. Using Instagram takes quite a lot time and I think the publications needs to be be written in good language
X (formerly known as Twitter) is a platform for short messages and rapid discussion. Wellbeing Services County of North Savo has it’s own account and it’s used for short announcements. If my ward had an own account it could be used as a rapid information channel. As a part of public health organization any statements cannot be announced. We have small events and visitors (e.g. hockey players) at the ward and maybe that kind of events could be posted on X. We have many different indicators and questionnaires about nursing and customer or patient satisfaction. The beginning of the surveys and the results could be posted to indicate the quality of care.
Everyone is familiar with Youtube. Sometimes we recommend families to check out a enlightening video from Youtube regarding their family’s care plan. For example device manufacturers make good teaching videos which are easy to follow simultaneously when training a new device. It takes a lot of effort to make good educative videos but I if our hospital had orienting videos they could be used as a guiding material through the Wellbeing Services County.
Asana is completely new platform for me. With Asana team can organize projects and tasks and also communicate. I can imagine it being used for developing nursing and patient care. Maybe this platform could work when working with different professionals and developing e.g. a treatment path for a specific group of patients.
Self evaluation
Getting to know new platforms was inspiring. Some organizations use a lot more different platforms so it was enlightening to read fellow students thoughts about social media and the use of different platforms in different working environments. It was quite challenging to think how different apps and platforms are used and could be used at my work. I’ve thought that I don’t use that much different apps at my work but doing this assignment I realized there is a lot of different apps and platforms in use and I guess much more is yet to come. Though my English is bit rusty I like writing in English. It’s fun to see that it gets easier to write in English every time I open the computer.