Use of social media outlets such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram and others are common practice among healthcare professionals, with 45 percent of nurse practitioners and physician assistants using some form of social media for business and 68 percent for some form of personal use, according to The Clinical Advisor's 2014 Social Media Survey.
The Clinical Advisor conducted the survey among 350 nurse practitioners and physician assistants in August and September 2014. Further findings from the survey are shown below.
- Sixty-one percent of respondents use social media for personal use only, while 8 percent use it just for business and 31 percent use it for both.
- Overall, Facebook is the most popular social media service among respondents (80 percent), but only 26 percent indicated using Facebook for business.
- LinkedIn is used for business purposes the most (48 percent), followed by Google+ (36 percent).
- Of the social media services used by NPs and PAs every day, Facebook is used most frequently, with 24 percent of respondents indicating they use it multiple times a day. Ten percent of respondents use Google+ multiple times a day, two percent use Twitter, YouTube and Instagram, while one percent use Pinterest and LinkedIn multiple times a day.
- Twenty-four percent of NPs and PAs reported they frequently use social media to access information about healthcare products and services.
- Forty-six percent of respondents said they don't use social media to share clinical information or professional news, but those who do reported using Facebook the most (22 percent).
- Twenty-eight percent of respondents think using social media helps their careers, and 48 percent think they will use social media more in 2015.
*Editor's note: Not every participant answered every question. Numbers may not add up to 100 percent due to rounding.