Social media usage affects the productivity of nurses at hospitals and universities, according to the study "Evaluating the effects of social networking sites addiction, task distraction, and self‐management on nurses' performance" published in the Journal of Advanced Nursing.
Nurses who frequently use social media at work can be distracted from their tasks at hand, according the study coauthor Asad Javed from Hazara University in Mansehra, Pakistan. He added that such behavior may lead to conflicts among nurses especially with patient care duties as well as disagreement between nurses and patients.
With their data, Javed's team affirmed the link between increasing use of social media at work and greater distraction and poorer job performance. The researchers claim that nurses who practice self-management could refrain from using social media and focus on work instead.
“One of the important reasons we conducted our research on nurses was the critical nature of their jobs, which require them to remain attentive,” Javed wrote in an email to Reuters.
The researchers surveyed 461 nurses from 53 countries through Facebook group in 2018 to observe and analyze relationships between social media usage at work, distraction from their work, and self-rated job performance. The anonymous survey generated comments like “I lose my concentration during work when I hear the beep sound of notification on social networking site/application".
“Nurses, like the general population, are increasingly distracted by attention to social media,” said Cynda Rushton of the Johns Hopkins School of Nursing’s Berman Institute of Bioethics in Baltimore, Maryland.
“Nurses care for some of the most vulnerable people... When social media sites...shift their focus from their core work in ways that may harm their patients, higher standards are justified," Rushton added.
However, Javed does not call for a complete ban on use of phones or social media by nurses. “(This) could result in negative consequences considering the myriad of benefits associated with the use of social media for healthcare professionals reported in several studies,” he said.
Javed emphasized that training sessions and information campaign at hospitals can help nurses change their behavior.
