Abstract
Introduction: The use of Social Media (SoMe) by healthcare professionals (HCPs) has risen fast in the recent years, creating a new informal framework of collaborative intelligence, which is based on the virtual interaction of its users. In addition, COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated SoMe usage from HCPs, who explore alternative avenues to professional development and ways to navigate the volume, veracity and variety of data and networks in a currently shaping SoMe environment in healthcare.
Objective: The revelation of SoMe as a means for communicating with peer networks and an opportunity for mentorship and coaching, as well as information sharing and remote collaboration to promote professional development.
Method: We conducted a literature search in PubMed and Google Scholar online databases for the last five years (2016-2021) using keywords. Keywords used were “social media”, “healthcare”, “healthcare professionals”, “mentorship”, “coaching”, “influence”. Snowball referral sampling method was also utilized for further review. Results: We identified 18 articles. Twitter, the most commonly used platform amongst HCPs, allows real-time engagement and dissemination of information. Collaborative Web 2.0 tools are also utilized to support mentorship, influence and coaching amongst HCPs.
Conclusion: HCPs begin to take ownership in shaping the future of SoMe usage in healthcare field. SoMe can be useful for sharing information, mentorship amongst HCPs and a means for their professional development. Although HCPs adopt the use of SoMe, questions arise about the proper and ethical use of them. Certain conditions must be met before their usage, in order to avoid any risk of misinformation, dispute of information’s reliability, distrust of persons and conflicts of interest.
