The Clinical Advisor conducted the survey among 350 nurse practitioners and physician assistants in August and September 2014. Further findings from the survey are shown below.
- Sixty-one percent of respondents use social media for personal use only, while 8 percent use it just for business and 31 percent use it for both.
- Overall, Facebook is the most popular social media service among respondents (80 percent), but only 26 percent indicated using Facebook for business.
- LinkedIn is used for business purposes the most (48 percent), followed by Google+ (36 percent).
- Of the social media services used by NPs and PAs every day, Facebook is used most frequently, with 24 percent of respondents indicating they use it multiple times a day. Ten percent of respondents use Google+ multiple times a day, two percent use Twitter, YouTube and Instagram, while one percent use Pinterest and LinkedIn multiple times a day.
- Twenty-four percent of NPs and PAs reported they frequently use social media to access information about healthcare products and services.
- Forty-six percent of respondents said they don’t use social media to share clinical information or professional news, but those who do reported using Facebook the most (22 percent).
- Twenty-eight percent of respondents think using social media helps their careers, and 48 percent think they will use social media more in 2015.
*Editor’s note: Not every participant answered every question. Numbers may not add up to 100 percent due to rounding.
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