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We're sharing this article by one of our favourite friends in healthcare social media, Robert Fraser, RN, BScN (nursingideas.ca), from Reflections on Nursing Leadership.
Social media: An innovative way to share nursing ideas
In a nutshell? It's OK to be skeptical of social media; it's NOT OK to refuse to engage with new technology.
Rob effectively breaks down some of the myths about social media, like "Social media is not new, and it’s not scary. Social media is an evolution of the way we capture content and share ideas." Nor is it only for teens or the iPod generation. "I see people older than me engaging with these tools more effectively than I do, because they have that experience and knowledge."
He relates many thoughtful examples and stories. One of the most relevant to the many nurses in our community, and at Saint Elizabeth Health Care, is how he posts videos and a section for comments - using social media for knowledge exchange and great discussion.
"... I want nurses to buy into the idea that it’s important to make comments. The next nurse who visits the site will see that someone from Holland has made a comment and can then share his or her perspective on the topic. This is a huge progression from the time when exchange of international nursing knowledge took place only during conferences, symposiums or exchange trips. Having this content online in this format enables many new possibilities."
"Many nurses are scared or overwhelmed at the thought of putting content online because they think of HTML, but you don’t need a coding background or experience to use social media tools. Most of these tools have interfaces to control them."
On nursingideas.ca site, and here on the Care to Know Centre site, you click on a link to add a comment. To put content up yourself on the Care to Know Centre site, once you've registered and are logged in, click on "contribute" a post. Type into a simple form and submit. You can edit, add tags, categorize and make it searchable and easy to find on the Web. Once you do it, it becomes very easy.
And like many sites, when people subscribe (log in and visit: http://www.caretoknow.org/subscriptions/my) to your posts on CareToKnow.org, they will automatically get an e-mail when you put new content up.
Read the full article at http://www.reflectionsonnursingleadership.org/Pages/Vol36_1_Fraser.aspx .
Robert Fraser’s Web site: http://www.nursingideas.ca
Video of Robert Fraser’s convention presentation
