I work in a hospital in an outpatients department that provides neuromodulatory treatments. The work needs to be done on the spot and it can’t be transferred outside hospital. Besides the essential monitoring devices, patient information system, Teams and e-mail we don’t have many often used platforms that are digital. We also have strict rules to the use of social media: never put there any kind of patient information.
There are though a lot of things that don’t involve patients’ information, like shift planning and discussion/design of practices. Usually we all are present and there’s no need to meet remotely. Planning is done manually with a pen and paper and sent via e-mail if needed. Social media has not gained a foothold because it doesn’t facilitate our working enough. There is also some resistance to change, but some of it has alleviated when new applications have proven to be efficient. We have a Whats-app group with doctors, nurses and department manager that speeds up reacting to changing situations. We also have a remote meeting platform for patient appointments, but that has been used quite little. A phonecall doesn’t bind the professional to a spesific time and it is just as effective than a short remote appointment.
There are social media tools we could utilize more when working with patiens. Translation programs with AI could help communicating with a foreign language speaking patient if there is no possibility to use an interpreter.
Translation program like DeepL could make it easier to read the newest studies on our field if they are written in a foreign language. It could also work on the other way round, but currently Finnish may be too tricky a language for AI to translate.
ChatGPT could be used to quickly find information on illnesses that are not my field of expertice but may affect treatment decisions. Our work is highly independent and it is important to know when to consult a doctor. It is not possible to establish a decision on ChatGPT, but it may speed up the decision to consult if there is something alarming.
We have made a video on Youtube which provides information on ECT (electroconvulsive therapy) in Finnish. There have been some changes since (the department has moved to a different location), and the video should be updated. ECT has a historical stigma and it is important to offer comprehensive information on the matter. Youtube is available for most people so the video can reach all the patients who seek information on it. Updating the video would make it more reliable by leading people to the right place.
Our department provides other treatments alongside ECT. There are tDCS (transcranial Direct Current Stimulation) and rTMS (repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation). There is a manufacturer provided video for DCS in Youtube, but TMS should also have one. Time on a doctor’s appointment is usually limited and it would be useful if patients already had some knowledge on all of the treatments in advance.
Other way to provide information and possibly make it easier to use our services is to have a TikTok channel. Making short videos of the treatments and people who work in our department could lower the threshold of contacting us. It could also benefit other places that produce neuromodulatory treatments. TikTok is a little different platform than Youtube and a video can reach a large population while they scroll through their feed.
LinkedIn could be used to contact new people if there was a need to recruit. It may also help when there’s a staff shortage due to an illness or other unexpected event. We have a list of phone numbers for temporary workers, but the list should be updated regularly. Our work is very specialized and there aren’t many professionals in our region. LinkedIn would help to make connections with a group of people who are specialized to neuromodulatory and sending a message to a group is faster than calling people on a list.
Using social media in a health care department is a double-edged sword. On the other hand it makes communicating easy and efficient, but on the other hand it always needs to be evaluated if it is a suitable platform. To be successful, a digital application has to be easy to use use and provide added value compared to the time before it. Finnish language is also a big plus.
Regardless of how many digital tools there might be, they won’t be used in a hospital if they are not allowed to be installed to computers or used online. The number of tools that we are provided is very limited, and even those won’t be used if nobody knows how to use them. Digital tools should be considered a chance to facilitate working and not as a menace. A safe way to use them can be achieved by educating and instructing, and that only needs a mutual will to start using them.
Self evaluation: Getting to know different social media tools has given me some ideas how to develop my working environment. The decision is not only mine to make, but I believe they could be tried and proven to be useful. There were some tools that I have never heard of and it was interesting to evaluate how we could use them. Some of them I could also use to do school assignments, especially in a team.