Pharmacist use of social media

Abstract

Introduction: The rapid emergence and exploding usage of social media (also called Web 2.0) present pharmacists with new professional, ethical and time management challenges.

Objectives: To describe social media use among pharmacists in West Virginia, USA.

Methods: A survey was administered during the West Virginia Pharmacist Association 102nd Annual Convention held in October 2009. The meeting participants were pharmacists practising in the different regions of West Virginia. All conference attendees were eligible to participate.

Results: The survey was completed by all 50 pharmacists in attendance, yielding a response rate of 100%. Social media use was found to be common among West Virginia pharmacists, with the most frequently used applications including: YouTube (74%), Wikipedia (72%), Facebook (50%), and blogs (26%). However, there were some tools that pharmacists barely used such as Bebo, Hi5, Flickr and Friendster. Given the widespread use of Facebook by respondent pharmacists, it is noteworthy that they indicated the main purposes for using it were for chatting, uploading pictures and keeping touch with friends rather than for professional and educational purposes.

Discussion: Presently, pharmacists utilize social media primarily for personal purposes. As social media becomes more sophisticated and widely adopted in the healthcare arena, it is probable that pharmacists will also increasingly utilize it for professional and educational purposes.