Social media offers fewer new opportunities for digitalization in healthcare than in other sectors. Only a few social media applications offer assistance in information sharing, patient guidance, and professional visibility, as healthcare sets ethical and data security requirements that must be strictly adhered to. I tried to find ways to use social media in my work as a nurse caring for cardiac procedure patients.

My current work and digital tools

I work as a nurse with cardiac procedure patients. My work focuses on preparing patients for procedures and providing care and guidance, especially after procedures. Patients often have coronary artery disease or some other heart condition, and my nursing work involves guiding them in understanding their diseas, the importance of medication, lifestyle changes, and post-operative home care.

Digital tools are now an integral part of my daily work. I use a patient information system to document my nursing work, review the patient’s previous care information, and make care plans. The system also utilizes OmaKanta data, which supports the flow of information and continuity of care between different care units.

I also use Terveyskylä’s digital care pathways in my professional role. Digital care pathways provide patients with reliable information about their disease, self-care, and post-operative follow-up. They support patients’ self-care and enable guidance to continue even after hospital visits. I find this particularly important for heart patients, for whom long-term commitment to treatment and lifestyle changes is decisive.

Social media as part of nursing

Social media offers few opportunities to complement traditional nursing. I chose five social media and digital communication tools that I am considering: Instagram, YouTube, DeepL, Translator, and ChatGPT. My choices are based on the fact that I could not think of any others that I could use in my work and that I could see these as part of patient guidance, communication, or my own professional work.

Instagram is a visual social media platform that reaches a wide audience and is easy to understand. In professional use, Instagram has been used with the approval and supervision of employers, for example, to introduce work and reveal the everyday life of nursing, which can be used to raise the profile of nursing. Instagram has been implemented with “My Day” type content, which describes a working day at a general level, increasing understanding of the work of a nurse and potentially increasing the attractiveness of the profession. It could also be used to share health-related information.

However, the negative aspects include patient data protection and ethical issues. All content should be approved by the employer, and patients or care situations should not be identifiable. Successful use requires clear rules, discretion, and adherence to professional ethics.

YouTube is particularly well suited to supporting patient guidance. Instructional videos aimed at cardiac surgery patients have already been made on topics such as procedures, coronary artery disease, and lifestyle guidance. Videos can improve the understandability of care and instructions as well as compliance, and patients can return to the videos at home at their own pace.

YouTube’s strength lies in its visual nature and accessibility. The challenge is to ensure that the content is up to date and reliable: it is important to only provide patients with material that has been produced or approved by professionals. Not all patients have the same level of digital skills, which may limit the use of the service.

DeepL and Translator are valuable tools in multilingual nursing. They support communication in situations where there is no common language or where it is inadequate.

The positive aspects are speed and ease of use, but the negative aspect is that machine translations are not always completely accurate. For this reason, they should be used as a support, not as the only means of communication. It is the professional’s responsibility to ensure that the patient understands the instructions given correctly. Fortunately, we can usually also use interpreters over the phone in our work.

I could try ChatGPT in my work to support quick information retrieval and thinking. It could be used to structure information, search for general background information, and help clarify the wording of patient guidance, for example. ChatGPT does not replace professional expertise or treatment recommendations, and information and text must always be checked, but it can be an effective tool.

Elements of successful digital use

The successful use of digital and social media tools in nursing requires several factors. These include clear instructions for use, data security and ethics, users’ digital skills, and organizational support. It is important that digital tools support the work and do not increase the workload. Their use is justified when they improve patient guidance, increase understanding, or support professional work. The responsibility for their use always lies with the professional.

Self-reflection

I reflected on my own relationship with social media, now in my role as a professional. I realized that I use digital tools to some extent, but could look at their use more widely. From the perspective of patient guidance in particular, social media and digital platforms offer ways to support patients outside of treatment contacts.

The use of social media in healthcare requires clear boundaries, permissions, and constant ethical consideration. Professionalism, patient safety, and data protection always come first. However, digital skills are an essential part of modern nursing and are constantly evolving.