Practices and Attitudes Towards Patient E-Communication and Social Media Use Amongst Neurology Providers (Preprint)

Abstract

E-communication is increasingly being utilized in healthcare but there is limited research investigating the practices and attitudes of providers towards the use of these tools in professional settings.

To assess the experiences, attitudes, and practices of neurology healthcare providers, regarding e-communication contact with patients and social media (SM) use.

Two surveys assessing patient e-communication and SM use were disseminated by e-mail to subscribers of NeuroSens, an online educational platform.

67% and 27% of respondents completely opposed patient contact to their personal mobile and e-mail respectively, while the remaining respondents believed propriety was situation-dependent. Respondents tolerant to patient contact were more likely to have been contacted for urgent matters in the past. Most respondents (54%) used at least one of the main SM networks, and 76% denied having posted inappropriate content. The majority of respondents (74%) were unfamiliar with any SM policy within their practicing institution and the vast majority (98%) agreed clinical institutions need to establish updated e-communication policies.

Neurology healthcare providers demonstrate conservative practices and perceptions of SM use and patient e-communication, despite limited institutional guidance. With the continued growth of e-communications tools, there is a strong need to for clinical institutions to establish policies to support the use of these applications within healthcare.