Name: Suci Ramadani BP: 2011312003: Essay

The document discusses the effects of patients' use of social media in healthcare. It outlines both benefits and challenges. The benefits include increased social support from sharing experiences with other patients, improved access to information about conditions and treatments, and a means for emotional expression. However, challenges also exist such as reduced well-being, loss of privacy, and potential overuse leading to addiction. As social media use by patients in healthcare continues to rise, further study is needed to fully understand its impact on the relationship between patients and healthcare professionals.

Uploaded by

sandra

We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.

Available Formats

Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd

0% found this document useful (0 votes)

30 views

Name: Suci Ramadani BP: 2011312003: Essay

Uploaded by

sandra

We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.

Available Formats

Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd

You are on page 1/ 2

Essay

Name : Suci Ramadani

BP : 2011312003

Patient's Use of Social Media In Health Care

Nowadays, social media is starting to affect more of each individual's life. Social
media also influences how patients view their health care and medicines, because of reviews
from other patients and how health care practices present themselves. Various social media
sites used are Twitter, Facebook, Youtube, Whatsapp, Health Platform, Wikipedia, and
others. The use of social media by patients for health reasons provides different effects,
which can result in benefits and challenges. It is important to identify the effects of this social
media on the health care system, as more and more patients are using social media for health-
related reasons, so health professionals should reflect on the alleged beneficial effects and
potential harmful effects of the use of social media by patients in health care.

The challenges faced are the negative effects of using social media by patients. Those
effects are reduced subjective well-being, loss of privacy, being the target of promotion and
addiction to social media. Reduced subjective well-being indicates an increase in negative
emotional experiences due to the use of social media, such as increased feelings of worry and
anxiety. Lose patient privacy when they post private videos on YouTube. Patients are
subjected to promotion because posting videos on YouTube can be a target for product
promotion. Then, social media addiction also occurs, with complaints that patients who use
social media often result in the abandonment of other affairs due to over-use of social media.

However, the use of social media by patients can benefit in many aspects. In terms of
social support, the use of social media can help to meet their emotional or affective needs, for
example sharing emotions with others who experience similar complaints. The use of social
media can encourage individuals to take the necessary actions to successfully live with their
condition, such as getting support from other patients, sharing experiences of new treatments
to find encouragement before starting them and rituals to confirm each other's efforts to
follow health instructions. In terms of information support, social media is useful for newly
diagnosed patients requiring a lot of information about their condition and treatment options,
which can be provided by patients who have been treating the condition for a longer time.
Examples include receiving advice on treatment, helping fellow sufferers by sharing
experiences and relevant information about the disease and asking questions about the
condition. Then, in the aspect of network support that is support that reminds people that in
any situation they face, they are not alone. For example, meeting other patients who have
gone through similar experiences, means to connect with others in similar situations and
foster relationships based on shared attributes.
In addition, another benefit of the patient's use of social media is as an emotional
expression and social comparison. Emotional expression is that patients can use social media
as a place to express their emotions freely, such as releasing negative emotions. Meanwhile,
social comparisons show patients use social media to compare themselves to other patients to
see how "bad" their condition is or to find out how treatment works. The use of social media
can also improve management and self-control, this refers to an increase in the ability of
patients to better handle their condition.

The effect of the use of social media by patients on the relationship of health care
professionals with patients can lead to more equal communication between patients and
health care professionals, increased change of doctors, increased harmony between health
workers and patients, and reduced optimal interaction between patients and health care
professionals.

Therefore, with the increasing availability of information, changes in the way people
communicate and increased general concerns about a person's health, new technologies are
affecting and will continue to affect the health sector. Therefore, further investigation needs
to be conducted to assess the media's real social impact on health care decisions taken by
health care professionals and patients. Currently, the main benefits of social media for
patients are the possibility to interact with other patients with the same disease and views that
are symptoms, reactions to treatment, emotional support and feeling they are not alone, which
allows them to ask doctors, pharmacists, insurance better questions, the possibility to interact
at any time, regardless of distance with other users. On the other hand, the main benefits of
social media for health care organizations are the possibility to provide quick answers to
patient questions, a better understanding of the patient, the problems he faces in his daily
activities, his fears and needs that are not met, as well as the possibility to reach a wide
audience.