Twitter engagement for healthcare professionals is a relatively new concept, with many healthcare professionals agreeing that the platform has significant benefits both for their own CPD and clinical service. Clinicians are able to engage openly with experts / leaders within their field of practice in order to network, explore new research and find inspiration.  Where tweeting in a professional capacity there is clearly a responsibility to ensure online ‘behaviour’ aligns with the relevant code of professional conduct. Indeed the NMC has produced guidance regarding using social media responsibly.  The guidance is clear about application of elements of the code to social media use, such as confidentiality and staying within the clinicians scope of practice, but the author has recently come across patient engagement situations on twitter where perhaps the guidance requires more detail. Given that this is a new territory, where people with health conditions have a huge access to healthcare professionals, this poses new and different questions about maintaining professional relationships online.

An example of this emerged on my own twitter feed recently. Some service users have been muted and ignored by HCPs on twitter when they have attempted to engage with them.  In the reported situations the service user had simply complemented the HCP or made general comments about the tweet. From the thread it appeared to emerge that these were not isolated cases and service users were left with the perception that HCPs who refused to engage were uncompassionate. Thus service users were left feeling insulted and ignored. If we are tweeting in a professional capacity is it a little harsh to refuse to engage entirely with service users? It is common sense that general health advice can be given if that is our area of expertise and the HCP wouldn’t give individual advice. But this raised further questions about giving signposting / general research info.  However how can service users be sure that the advice given is correct given that twitter is not regulated to that amount of detail?  Is there also potential access to health advice for isolated populations a topic that could be explored by healthcare providers?

Elaine Bevan-Smith who manages the @uogACP twitter account is university lead for the advancing clinical practice programme and a senior lecturer. Her special interests are COPD and pulmonary rehabilitation, working on National projects within this area. She has worked within the NHS as a clinical lead / advanced nurse practitioner and has extensive experience of transformation, clinical service design and evaluation of clinical services.

Questions:

• What are the risks of service user engagement on social media? (safe-guarding, record keeping, confidentiality, public liability)

• What are the benefits of service user engagement on social media?

• Is it OK to signpost and give general health advice on social media?

• How does the service user know we are tweeting as a trustworthy HCP?          

• Is there potential to use social media creatively in a patient engagement context? Ie for access to isolated populations

• Should there be a NICE guideline – endorsed by the National professional bodies?

• Will you change anything about your tweeting habits as a result of this tweetchat?