Previously submitted to: Journal of Medical Internet Research (no longer under consideration since Feb 11, 2022)
Date Submitted: Jan 8, 2021
Warning: This is an author submission that is not peer-reviewed or edited. Preprints - unless they show as "accepted" - should not be relied on to guide clinical practice or health-related behavior and should not be reported in news media as established information.
Using social media for work: A cross-sectional survey of career satisfaction and burnout among Chinese healthcare professionals
ABSTRACT
Background:
The pros and cons of social media usage among healthcare professionals have been debated by researchers. On one hand, research suggested that social media can help with professional networking, knowledge-sharing, and patient engagement. On the other hand, researchers pointed out social media usage can blur the boundary between work and life, cause an intrusion into privacy, and bring challenges to online professionalism.
Objective:
To examine how social media were used for work among healthcare professionals in China, as well as to examine the relationship between using social media for work, burnout, and career satisfaction.
Methods:
A cross-sectional online survey was conducted. A total of 374 healthcare professionals, including physicians, nurses, and medical staff completed the questionnaire.
Results:
Our study suggested that the top three types of professional social media use were 1) to communicate with their colleagues (M 3.70, SD 0.82), 2) to share medical knowledge online (M 3.26, SD 0.88), and to connect with patients after working hours (M 2.87, SD 1.00). In addition, using social media to connect with patients after working hours was significantly associated with a higher likelihood of a sense of personal accomplishment (β=.27, P=.001) and career satisfaction (β=.14, P=.047), as well as a lower likelihood of depersonalization (β=-.17, P=.03). Communicating with other healthcare professionals was positively associated with a sense of personal accomplishment (β=.12, P=.036), and negatively associated with depersonalization (β=-.14, P=.015).
Conclusions:
Our study provided important evidence revealing new benefits of using social media for work among healthcare professionals in China. Using social media to connect with patients after working hours can help lessen burnout. These two types of usage can increase the likelihood of treating patients as human beings (not as objects), feeling their job is valuable and worthy, and becoming more satisfied with their job. Social media were most frequently used to connect with other healthcare professionals, which can enhance the likelihood of feeling satisfied with their career and reduce the likelihood of feeling depersonalization during work. These findings contributed to the extant scholarship by demonstrating the advantages of using social media for work in regard to alleviating burnout and increasing career satisfaction. Practical implications on using social media for professional networking, knowledge sharing, and patient engagement were discussed. Clinical Trial: NA
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