The Pitfalls of Using Social Media in the Healthcare System

Abstract

Social media usage in the healthcare system is abundant nowadays. Besides the prompt actions and reactions, there are also some pitfalls. The pitfalls should be well prevented and recognized. This paper aims to describe the pitfalls of using social media in the healthcare system. This is a narrative literature review. PubMed, Google Scholar, and Science Direct were used for journal searching web. The selected journals were published within 3 years. The summary of the journal search revealed that the pitfalls of using social media in the healthcare system are the possibility of misinformation. When the misinformation was delivered quickly and carelessly to the public, the mess will be difficult to be handled. The prevention step is screening before sharing any health information. Any new information should be compared with the guidelines that are issued by healthcare organizations and professional societies before sharing on social media. In conclusion, preventing pitfalls in misinformation when using social media can be done by screening the information with professional societies and healthcare organization guidelines and screening before sharing.