There were so many reasons why I originally decided to get excited about immersing myself into the world of social media (i.e. blogging, twitter, etc). My main reason was the influence that this realm could have onto the profession of nursing. I remember searching through allnurses.com years ago when I was a young, fresh face in the field. I could search through the forums and find nurses that were going through similar dilemmas, post questions about nursing practice at other hospitals, and read news that was relevant to the nursing field. It felt amazing to be able to talk to other people about anything and everything. And now here we are, in the time that social media is really coming to life. We have so many ways to stay involved at a professional level (linked in, twitter, websites, blogs, etc) that it makes it so easy to connect with other people who can relate to your workday. Have you ever come home from a long/interesting/stressful day at work wanting to tell your husband/wife all about it, only to have them zone out when they can’t relate to all of your medical jargon? Well, that’s just one of the reasons that so many of us love to turn to the interwebs.
Nurses in social media can also have an influence on the general public. Our patients are getting more tech savvy each year, researching the internet and sites like Wikipedia for information on their illness and its treatment. They are also using sites like DailyStrength.org to connect with other people with their same diagnoses and join free support groups. Nurses are able to reach out to their patients in a whole new way.
