Social Media and Mobile Technologies for Healthcare Education

A special issue of Informatics (ISSN 2227-9709).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (15 March 2017) | Viewed by 80098

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
School of Health Sciences, Faculty of Health University of Tasmania, Domain Campus, 71 Brooker Highway Hobart, TAS 7001, Australia
Interests: health informtics; education; chronic condition self management; social media use; m-learning; nursing informatics

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Guest Editor
School of Nursing, College of Health and Medicine, Newnham Campus, University of Tasmania, Launceston 7250, Australia
Interests: evaluation; digital professionalism; health literacy; higher education; human computer interaction; nursing; mobile learning; mobile technology; nursing informatics; participatory health; primary health; social media
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Social media and mobile technologies are important new tools in healthcare education, both to assist healthcare professionals learn and maintain their craft, and for education of patients and families. Social media, particularly linked with mobile technologies, is being used to support healthcare professionals in higher education and maintaining professional development in the workplace. They are also becoming important as tools for educating patients and their families in relation to healthcare needs. This Special Issue seeks submissions offering research results and case studies that advance the state of the art of the methodologies aimed at the application of social media or mobile technologies for healthcare education.

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Elizabeth Cummings
Ms. Carey Mather
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Informatics is an international peer-reviewed open access quarterly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1800 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • Social media
  • Mobile learning
  • Education
  • Educational technology
  • Connected learning
  • Digital professionalism

Published Papers (7 papers)

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Editorial

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141 KiB  
Editorial
Advancing Social Media and Mobile Technologies in Healthcare Education
by Elizabeth Cummings and Carey Mather
Informatics 2017, 4(4), 35; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/informatics4040035 - 28 Sep 2017
Cited by 8 | Viewed by 8138
Abstract
Social media and mobile technologies are important new tools in healthcare education, both to assist healthcare professionals learn and maintain their craft, and for the education of patients and families [...]
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(This article belongs to the Special Issue Social Media and Mobile Technologies for Healthcare Education)

Research

Jump to: Editorial

181 KiB  
Article
Evaluation Tools to Appraise Social Media and Mobile Applications
by Diane Skiba
Informatics 2017, 4(3), 32; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/informatics4030032 - 15 Sep 2017
Cited by 6 | Viewed by 30715
Abstract
In a connected care environment, more citizens are engaging in their health care through mobile apps and social media tools. Given this growing health care engagement, it is important for health care professionals to have the knowledge and skills to evaluate and recommend [...] Read more.
In a connected care environment, more citizens are engaging in their health care through mobile apps and social media tools. Given this growing health care engagement, it is important for health care professionals to have the knowledge and skills to evaluate and recommend appropriate digital tools. The purpose of this article is to identify and review criteria or instruments that can be used to evaluate mobile apps and social media. The analysis will review current literature as well as literature designed by professional health care organizations. This review will facilitate health care professionals’ assessment of mobile apps and social media tools that may be pertinent to their patient population. The review will also highlight strategies which a health care system can use to provide guidance in recommending mobile apps and social media tools for their patients, families, and caregivers. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Social Media and Mobile Technologies for Healthcare Education)
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Article
digiMe: An Online Portal to Support Connectivity through E-Learning in Medical Education
by Si Fan, Jan Radford and Debbie Fabian
Informatics 2017, 4(3), 30; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/informatics4030030 - 08 Sep 2017
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 7705
Abstract
Connectivity is intrinsic to all aspects of our life today, be it political, economic, technological, scientific, or personal. Higher education is also transcending the previous paradigm of technology enabled content delivery and e-learning, with a new emphasis on connectivity, enabling participants to exchange [...] Read more.
Connectivity is intrinsic to all aspects of our life today, be it political, economic, technological, scientific, or personal. Higher education is also transcending the previous paradigm of technology enabled content delivery and e-learning, with a new emphasis on connectivity, enabling participants to exchange knowledge and collaborate to meet educational goals. In this study, a social media technology supported website—digiMe—was developed and evaluated at the School of Medicine of one Australian university. Connectivity to other medical learners and health professionals is intrinsic to digiMe. This paper reports the functionalities of this website, results of a post-intervention evaluative survey, and statistics of website usage generated from Google Analytics. The results revealed more active adoptions and a more positive attitude towards digiMe from Year 4 students compared to Year 5 students. The participants showed a desire for access to a recommended collection of apps, such as those offered through digiMe. However, many participants did not use digiMe beyond initial introduction to it. digiMe demonstrated its potential in raising awareness of web and mobile apps useful for enhancing connectivity, although it needs to be introduced to students in earlier years of their medical education to achieve a higher impact on their learning. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Social Media and Mobile Technologies for Healthcare Education)
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Article
Modelling Digital Knowledge Transfer: Nurse Supervisors Transforming Learning at Point of Care to Advance Nursing Practice
by Carey Mather and Elizabeth Cummings
Informatics 2017, 4(2), 12; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/informatics4020012 - 18 May 2017
Cited by 11 | Viewed by 10188
Abstract
Limited adoption of mobile technology for informal learning and continuing professional development within Australian healthcare environments has been explained primarily as an issue of insufficient digital and ehealth literacy of healthcare professionals. This study explores nurse supervisors’ use of mobile technology for informal [...] Read more.
Limited adoption of mobile technology for informal learning and continuing professional development within Australian healthcare environments has been explained primarily as an issue of insufficient digital and ehealth literacy of healthcare professionals. This study explores nurse supervisors’ use of mobile technology for informal learning and continuing professional development both for their own professional practice, and in their role in modelling digital knowledge transfer, by facilitating the learning and teaching of nursing students in the workplace. A convenience sample of 27 nurse supervisors involved with guiding and supporting undergraduate nurses participated in one of six focus groups held in two states of Australia. Expanding knowledge emerged as the key theme of importance to this group of clinicians. Although nurse supervisors regularly browsed Internet sources for learning and teaching purposes, a mixed understanding of the mobile learning activities that could be included as informal learning or part of formal continuing professional development was detected. Participants need educational preparation and access to mobile learning opportunities to improve and maintain their digital and ehealth literacy to appropriately model digital professionalism with students. Implementation of mobile learning at point of care to enable digital knowledge transfer, augment informal learning for students and patients, and support continuing professional development opportunities is necessary. Embedding digital and ehealth literacy within nursing curricula will promote mobile learning as a legitimate nursing function and advance nursing practice. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Social Media and Mobile Technologies for Healthcare Education)
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Article
Identifying Opportunities to Integrate Digital Professionalism into Curriculum: A Comparison of Social Media Use by Health Profession Students at an Australian University in 2013 and 2016
by Carey Mather, Tracy Douglas and Jane O’Brien
Informatics 2017, 4(2), 10; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/informatics4020010 - 10 May 2017
Cited by 6 | Viewed by 8099
Abstract
Social media has become ubiquitous to modern life. Consequently, embedding digital professionalism into undergraduate health profession courses is now imperative and augmenting learning and teaching with mobile technology and social media on and off campus is a current curriculum focus. The aim of [...] Read more.
Social media has become ubiquitous to modern life. Consequently, embedding digital professionalism into undergraduate health profession courses is now imperative and augmenting learning and teaching with mobile technology and social media on and off campus is a current curriculum focus. The aim of this study was to explore whether patterns of social media use for personal or informal learning by undergraduate health profession students enrolled at an Australian university across four campuses has changed over time. A previously validated online survey was administered in 2013 to a cohort of health profession students as part of an Australian survey. In 2016, the same survey was distributed to a later cohort of health profession students. Three open-ended questions to elicit descriptive information regarding the use of social media for study purposes were added to the later survey. A comparative analysis of both cohorts was undertaken and social media acceptance and penetration was shown to increase. Health profession students are now more interactive users of Facebook and Twitter, and they have become more familiar with career development sites, such as LinkedIn. The maturation of social media platforms within a three-year period has created realistic opportunities to integrate social media for personal and study purposes into the health profession education curriculum to ensure student understanding of the necessity for maintaining digital professionalism in the workplace. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Social Media and Mobile Technologies for Healthcare Education)
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Article
Social Media Providing an International Virtual Elective Experience for Student Nurses
by Paula M. Procter, Juliana J. Brixey, Fern Todhunter and Michelle L. L. Honey
Informatics 2017, 4(2), 9; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/informatics4020009 - 10 Apr 2017
Cited by 6 | Viewed by 7672
Abstract
The advances in social media offer many opportunities for developing understanding of different countries and cultures without any implications of travel. Nursing has a global presence and yet it appears as though students have little knowledge of the health and social care needs [...] Read more.
The advances in social media offer many opportunities for developing understanding of different countries and cultures without any implications of travel. Nursing has a global presence and yet it appears as though students have little knowledge of the health and social care needs and provision outside their local environment. Our collaboration across three countries, New Zealand, United Kingdom, and the United States of America, brought the two themes together with the aim of senior student nurses having a communication channel to explore public health issues in each country. Using a closed Facebook™ page, third year undergraduate adult nursing students were invited to take part in a three month pilot study to test the feasibility of virtual collaboration through exchanging public health issues. Here we report upon the collaboration, operation of the social media, and main findings of the study. Three core areas will be reported upon, these being the student’s views of using social media for learning about international perspectives of health, seeing nursing as a global profession and recommendations for future development of this positively reviewed learning technique. To conclude consideration will be given to further development of this work by the collaborative team expanding the countries involved. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Social Media and Mobile Technologies for Healthcare Education)
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Article
Preparation for Working in a Knowledge-Based Society: New Zealand Student Nurses’ Use of Social Media
by Michelle Honey and Deborah Raphael
Informatics 2017, 4(2), 8; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/informatics4020008 - 07 Apr 2017
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 6793
Abstract
The increasing use of social media is revolutionizing the way students learn, communicate and collaborate. Many of the skills used with social media are similar to those needed to work in a knowledge-based society. To better understand student nurses’ use of social media [...] Read more.
The increasing use of social media is revolutionizing the way students learn, communicate and collaborate. Many of the skills used with social media are similar to those needed to work in a knowledge-based society. To better understand student nurses’ use of social media in relation to their learning, an anonymous survey was distributed to all undergraduate nursing students enrolled at one nursing school in New Zealand in 2015. A 75% response rate (n = 226) found that almost all (99%) students use social media outside their studies. However, in relation to their study, 61% use social networking sites (such as Facebook) on a daily basis and only four students (2%) do not use social media at all. Professional networking sites are used far less in relation to study, with 65% not using these networks at all. The most common digital option used to communicate and work with fellow students was online groups and document sharing sites, such as Google docs, were also popular. The study provides a useful baseline on social media use by student nurses. Implications from this study include opportunities for educators to incorporate social media into teaching and learning activities, including its safe and ethical use. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Social Media and Mobile Technologies for Healthcare Education)
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