The use of social media within the large hospital groups in

Abstract

Abstract: Background: The use of social media within healthcare organisations and hospitals has increased in recent years. A major contributor to social media activity is the staff of the hostpitals. However, not much is known about the personell’s awareness of the official social media channels. Aim: The aim is to establish the current social media usage within the large hospital groups i VGR. Secondly, to establish how aware the hospital staff are of their hospitals´ official social media channels. A case study of Angered´s Local Hospital is used as an example of a hospital that has recently had a policy to expand its activities in social media in order to fulfil the hospital’s role in health promotion. Method: A mixed methods approach involving an internet research of the hospitals´ official Facebook and YouTube channels, interviews with the information officers at the hospitals and an on-line survey of personnel at ANS, SU and SÄS hospitals. Results: All the large hospital groups in the region use social media regularly. Facebook was the leading form of SM used among the hospitals in VGR. On average hospitals produce 10- 12 posts each month, the proportion of directly health-related posts (excluding Angered) is between 1.38%-3.20%. Communications officers reported that they were planning to continue work with social media and develop strategies for more effective interaction on the social media channels. Awareness of hospital social medial among the personnel responded to the survey is high, especially of the Facebook account, 98% to 100% of all respondents stated they were aware of official Facebook page. Angered hospital case study The policy towards SM at Angered is based on a population needs survey conducted before the new hosptial was opened. The proportion of directly health-related posts was 19.55%. Social media interactions were mainly focused on to create an engagement among target groups and to involve them into the work with social media. Conclusion Hospitals are eager to engage with their target groups and aware of the possible benifits of interaction in terms of health promotion. However, the main focus is on information presented to the public and not interaction. Health promoition is also a much smaller proportion of the social media output than might be expected given a previous study which found that nationally 62% of posts by local health authorities were health-related (Appelstrand 2014). Given that social media is designed for interaction, this could indicate that SM is not being used to its fullest potential. The Angered´s Local Hospital has invested in social media in order to fulfil it’s role in a diverse population with specific health needs. A service designed on a background analysis may be the reason for greater proportion of health-related posts.