Nurses use social media to support care for vulnerable patients

Members of the Critical Care Outreach Team at East Kent Hospitals are using social media to help them care for vulnerable patients.

The main objective of the team is to keep patients with serious illnesses out the Critical Care Unit (CCU) and stay on a standard hospital ward under close observation, an approach which has shown to be better for patients. It is utilising video clips which are uploaded to the social media channels and entitled ‘Soundbites for Social Care’.

So far, many doctors, nurses and other clinicians have been the ‘stars’ of social media, imparting advice on many medical topics, particularly sepsis. Staff are given ‘sepsis star’ certificates when they go ‘above and beyond’ in the recognition and treatment of the condition.

The team has also found social media to be a useful ways to advertise study days for staff, ensuring that it’s used as an educational platform.

Debbie Higgs, consultant nurse critical care, said: “Many patients are treated in the CCU to save their life. But this may require treatment that’s invasive, which can present new complexities and sometimes be difficult for family members to see.

“We use Facebook and Twitter, both of which enable us to share ideas and videos and help to us get across best practice in the way that we deliver care to our patients. A smartphone is all you need and most of us have one of those.”

“Social media has taken on in an amazing way with our staff,” said Higgs. “If we can use it to help care for our patients and support our clinical staff, then that’s got be a good thing.”

Grace McMahan, senior sister, said: “Using social media and video clips can often be more effective than just sending an email to a colleague – it’s far more eye-catching and interesting. We like to think that we’ve embraced technology.”