Social media and pharmacy

Abstract

Social media is fast becoming a force to be reckoned within healthcare, and indeed, pharmacy practice. This study aimed to investigate the use of social media in pharmacy, advantages and impact and the influence of social media on communication between healthcare practitioners and the public, patient education, and pharmacy practice. The increased use of social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram by pharmaceutical industries, pharmacists, and others to communicate, provide health information, and interact with patients. In spite of that, questions about honesty of information posted and its ethical significance are surfacing. The study focuses the use of social media in pharmacy, the advantages of using it, and the dangers of using it. It also seeks to give guidelines on how to utilize the media effectively and safely in pharmacy practice. The research employs various primary and secondary literature sources of patients and pharmacists, and content analysis of social media that discusses pharmacy. Analysed 237 articles and 68 were directly related to social media and they organised into four main themes. Social media can be used to enhance patient education and access to health information. Pharmacists utilize the media to provide drug updates, advocate healthy lifestyle, and address patient inquiries. The study also establishes that misleading information is rampant and some pharmacists lack skills to utilize social media responsibly. Evidence supports that though social media may be used to improve services in pharmacies, definite rules and guidelines on how to display information correctly and ethically need to be given. Patients appreciate the ease of getting information from the internet but find it difficult to distinguish between authentic sources. Social media is a useful tool for pharmacists but must be handled with care to mitigate risks. This thesis supports more training of pharmacists on using social media and creating standard guidelines to help guarantee patient safety and trust.