Tag Archives: conference tweeting

A Health Professional’s Guide to Twitter

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(an entirely tweetable guide to Twitter for health professionals)

Have you ever heard someone say something like, “Twitter doesn’t interest me – I don’t care what Justin Bieber had for breakfast”? Those people speak that way because they don’t understand the difference between PERSONAL, OFFICIAL and PROFESSIONAL use of social media media.

Personal Use.

Personal use of social media is where you share photos of your holidays with family and friends on services like Facebook or Instagram. If you happen to be interested in what Justin Bieber had for breakfast, sus-out his Insta or Twitter feed. We won’t judge you 🙂

Official Use.

Official use of social media is where an entity like company or organisation presents their brand and shares information online. @IJMHN = the International Journal of Mental Health Nursing on Twitter, for instance.

Professional Use.

Professional use of social media is based on your area of expertise and interests. This use of social media allows you to share information with and interact with other individuals and organisations that have the same interests.

Health professional use of social media a legitimate thing to do. In fact, it is encouraged! Don’t believe me? Put “National Nursing and Midwifery Digital Health Capability Framework” into your favourite search engine and see for yourself.

National Nursing and Midwifery Digital Health Capability Framework includes section 1.3 Digital Identity: “Nurses and midwives use digital tools to develop and maintain their online identity and reputation.”
There are four subheadings to this section (see below)

Digital Identity 1.3.1: Maintains a professional development record demonstrating innovation, reflecting upon skills and experience to help monitor professional identity.

Digital Identity 1.3.2: Understands the benefits and risks of different ways of presenting oneself online, both professionally and personally while adhering to the NMBA social media policy.

Digital Identity 1.3.3: Understands that online posts can stay in the public domain and contribute to an individual’s digital footprint.

So, let’s be clear here. Unless your governing body (for me it’s Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency, aka @AHPRA on Twitter) says otherwise, it is fine to represent yourself as a health professional online. Just be professional 🙂

Twitter: What’s in it for Health Professionals?

“Twitter is not a technology. It’s a conversation. And it’s happening with or without you.” Charlene Li (aka @charleneli), 2009, Foreword, in S. Israel (Ed). Twitter Ville: How businesses can thrive in the new global neighborhoods. New York: Portfolio.

Is there any need for health professionals to participate in conversations with each other and/or the general public about what we do, our work and values, who we are?

To borrow, and slightly mangle, a quote from Jane Caro (aka @JaneCaro), social media allows nurses and midwives unmediated access to public conversations for the first time in history. Empowering stuff, right?

Twitter puts you within reach of over 300 million people who are active each month. There are now over 500 million tweets sent every day. There are a lot of conversations going on out there!

Obviously you’re not going to read every tweet or follow ever person, but amongst this traffic you are bound to find people who share your special interest, whether it’s clinical, educational or research. eg: interested in the history of nursing? follow the #histnurse hashtag

There isn’t much in the way of hierarchies on Twitter. You can find yourself answering a question from a student nurse in Perth one minute, and the next minute sharing information with a professor of nursing in London.

When you interact with health professionals on Twitter, it usually has a tone that’s not unlike the banter you hear at nurses stations: it’s work-related, and nearly always respectful and friendly.

If the style of interaction is not respectful and friendly, perhaps the person is not a health professional, and/or perhaps you should stop interacting with them. #toxic

Twitter @ Events.

Twitter is fantastic for taking the content of conferences beyond the walls of a conference. Nearly all health care conferences have their own Twitter hashtag for this very reason.

You can find out more about conference tweeting by searching for an @IJMHN article called “Mental health nurses’ use of Twitter for professional purposes during conference participation using #acmhn2016”

Or, if you are comfortable with a blog (no paywalls!), use the search function on meta4RN.com – I have quite a few posts about conference tweeting there.

As with conference Tweeting, if you have an education session you want to spread beyond the walls of the workshop, Twitter can allow information to be shared and amplified.

I once conducted a workshop with four people in attendance; the workshop resources (web links, mostly) shared via Twitter had an audience that was in the thousands. Twitter costs nothing, yet it gives you/your info access to an audience MUCH larger than most of us would ever have face-to-face.

I use social media knowing full well that it is my loudest voice.

Engage in a Scheduled Twitter Discussion.

There are planned Twitter discussions, that is discussions with a designated time and topic, that are known as “Twitter Chats”. The chats are a fast-faced, fun way to learn and contribute to the contest of ideas in subjects of interest.

My recommendation for a sneak-peak at what a Twitter Chat looks like is to visit/follow @WeNurses (the Twitter handle) and/or #WeNurses (the hashtag). If anyone else does health-related Twitter Chats with more consistency or passion, I haven’t come across them yet.

Twitter is a microblogging platform that restricts each Tweet to 280 characters or less. This means that scanning through each Tweet is a quick and lively way to gather and share information. Perfect for the time-poor (that’s pretty-much all of us, isn’t it?).

It’s Academic.

Twitter is not the antithesis of academia. Twitter is academia’s friend.

You’ve done the research, you’ve written the paper, you’ve jumped through the flaming hoops of peer review, and – FINALLY – your paper has been published. Now you want people to read it, right? Twitter can help with that. A lot!

You can use Twitter to share journal articles. Here is an example prepared earlier:
https://twitter.com/IJMHN/status/1156489908284002304?s=20

Even busy and important academics might be able to find two minute and thirty second to watch this https://youtu.be/57Dj1XJPgjA video that explains why social media tools like Twitter and reporting tools like @altmetric are of interest.

Share or perish: Social media and the International Journal of Mental Health Nursing. https://doi.org/10.1111/inm.12600 (McNamara and Usher, 2019)

Getting Started on Twitter.

Make a choice: will you have an official, personal or professional Twitter account? Don’t mix it up. Health professionals know about boundaries, right?

On your professional Twitter account you’re not representing an organisation, but are primarily talking about work-related stuff.

Choose a short name (aka “handle”) eg: instead of @AngelaCateMaryHelenNormandy maybe you should try @ACMHN (well, if the handle is not already taken by someone else, that is 🙂)

Bad news for people without exotic names: @JohnSmith @JSmith + @SmithJ are all taken 🙄

Short names and concise tweets are good. Twitter = Brevity Central

Struggling to decide on a name? Get creative, e.g. a nerdy mental health nurse might be @MHnerse.

If you are a Registered Nurse you will almost certainly be able to use “RN” in combination with all/part of your name to make a short, snappy handle. Same would be true for OTs, GPs, SWs, SPs, PTs, ENs, etc etc

Don’t use your workplace name/initials unless you’re 100% sure you’re representing your employer rather than your professional self.

That’s why I’m @meta4RN rather than @QueenslandHealthRN – there’s a BIG difference in implications/expectations. 😬

One last thing about the Twitter handle thing: Do NOT keep the ridiculous name and number combination that Twitter might throw-up as a suggestion. Something like @JohnSmi274983615 will not be easy to remember and it will repel followers. True.

Think about how you’ll describe yourself in your Twitter bio. Do you need to name your employer? It might be easier if you don’t.

Twitter bios accommodate a bit of personality along with a description of you/your interests.

Re bio: maybe better not to say “lost virginity to a rockstar”, but “enthusiastically supporting musicians” would be OK 🙂

Professional doesn’t have to be boring.

Still nervous re the name/bio thing? You’ll get away with being anonymous, but why? On the run? Witness protection program?

And a pic. You’ll need a pic. The Twitter default avatar repels followers. #truefact

Your pic doesn’t have to be a photo. There are avatars available online PRN.

JUST DON’T BE A WEIRD GREY LITTLE SILHOUETTE OF A MAN! #scaramouchscaramouchwillyoudothefandango

#scaramouchscaramouchwillyoudothefandango

Now. When you’re ready, announce your arrival to the Twitterverse. No pressure: channel Neil Armstrong.

Next up you’ll want to start following some people, otherwise your Twitter feed will be bare, and you will feel sad, lonely and bored. 😕

Who to follow? It depends on your interests. Use the Twitter search function to search for your areas of interest.

Other ideas on who to follow: your professional college, the health journal(s) you read most, your union, your local health services, your colleagues, your heroes.

Twitter is not like Facebook. It is perfectly acceptable, not at all stalker-ish, to follow a complete stranger.

Twitter is not like Facebook. It is perfectly acceptable, not at all rude to unfollow somebody (eg: if their tweets don’t interest you)

The Mighty Hashtag

Now, about hashtags… don’t be intimidated. You can use Twitter happily with never using one, BUT…

Hashtags pull disparate conversations and people together. If you haven’t seen this in action previously, check out these hashtags on Twitter: #COVID19 #wenurses #medtwitter #wespeechies or a conference hashtag like #ACMHN2019

As an example of the power of hashtag: even if you had the most incisive political tweet ever created, @QandA viewers would not ever know about it without the #QandA hashtag.

Create your own hashtags, BUT learn from the Susan Boyle album launch hashtag: #susanalbumparty can be read 2 ways 🙂

So, what to Tweet about? Anything that you think is relevant to people who may share all or some of your interests.

Remember: the conventions of professional communication are long-established: letters, email etc. Why change it on Twitter?

Now, pause for a moment and check-out your employer’s and registering body’s social media guidelines.

Any surprises for you there? Probably the only thing that routinely surprises people is being extra careful about testimonials/advertising. Most of us find the rest of it pretty sensible and intuitive.

Twitter Tips.

The easiest way to learn Twitter is to follow people who have already learned Twitter. Then get started with your Tweets/Retweets and replies. Stick with it – it’ll click in.

Definitely download a Twitter app onto your mobile. I’m happy enough with the default app by @Twitter, but also like @HootSuite and @TweetDeck. As a newby, don’t rush for a paid app – the free ones are fine.

Be careful mixing personal and professional. Boundaries are important.

You already know about confidentiality; if you’re doing confidentiality wrong online it will definitely get spotted.

Naturally, you would NEVER give individual or detailed clinical advice on Twitter.

Generalised info is fine, e.g.: Getting great feedback from consumers about the @beyondblue app called “Beyond Now” (it’s free and evidence-based)

Try not to act like a dickhead. Also, don’t use words like “dickhead” – it’s unprofessional.

Apologise if you do/say something stupid. BTW sorry for saying “dickhead” before.

Twitter spam is especially good at playing on the insecurities of newbies, so be vigilant + don’t click dodgy links.

Spam example 1: This person is saying horrible things about you http://www.dodgylink.com DON’T CLICK!

Spam example 2: This photo of you! LOL http://www.dodgylink.com DON’T CLICK!

Mostly you won’t Tweet from/about your workplace… you’ll have your work to do.

There may be an occasional exception to the workplace rule, e.g.: How cool are these paeds ward Christmas decorations?

Would your patients or boss be offended by that Tweet or photo? Yes = Delete. No = Tweet.

Connect. Be generous. Have fun.

End Notes.

This is a reworking of a 2014 web page I wrote for Ausmed called “A Nurses Guide To Twitter”. 2014 is so old in internet terms it has been consigned to the Internet Archive (aka Wayback Machine). That webpage was, in turn, a reworking of a 2013 workshop and blog page called “A Twitter Workshop in Tweets“. Self-plagiarism? Such an ugly word! Let’s call it a funky new remix of a favourite old song.

I was keen to republish it as an alternative to doing a series of inservices and workshops. It’s more expedient for me to do stuff like this in my own time, and leave work time to do the stuff related directly to my paid role.

Also, it’s fun to make the whole thing in tweetable chunks. Please feel free to tweet/share your favourite bits.

As always, you are welcome to leave feedback in the comments section below.

Paul McNamara, 10 November 2021

Short URL: meta4RN.com/twitter

Creative Commons: Attribution-ShareAlike 2.5 Australia

A tale of two hashtags

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Once upon a time (October 2019) two nursing conferences occurred almost back-to-back.

The 45th ACMHN International Mental Health Nursing Conference was held in Sydney from 8-10 October 2019. The conference hashtag was #ACMHN2019.

Over the week of the conference over 250 people used the hashtag on Twitter, there were 2,264 Tweets.

The 17th CENA International Conference for Emergency Nurses was held in Adelaide from 16-18 October 2019. The conference hashtag was #ICEN2019.

Over the week of the conference nearly 230 people used the hashtag on Twitter, there were 1751 Tweets.

Keeping Score

To be honest, I’m a little surprised. It is often pointed out that Australian Mental Health Nurses are an ageing bunch. I kind-of assumed that us old fogies would be out-Tweeted by our younger and more glamorous Emergency Nurse colleagues. Not that it matters, of course… we’re qualified, experienced and motivated specialist health professionals.

Of course we are much too mature to get caught-up in trivial competition.

Ahem.

2020 Rematch

Next year the 46th ACMHN International Mental Health Nursing Conference will be held on the Gold Coast from 14-16 October 2020 (source/more info: www.acmhn2020.com).

And, the 18th CENA International Conference for Emergency Nurses will also be held on the Gold Coast from 14-16 October 2020 (source/more info: www.icen.com.au). 

So, in 2020 two specialist groups of nurses will conferencing in the same place at the same time. Game on! 🙂 

Will the #ACMHN2020 or #ICEN2020 hashtag be the most used next October? Please feel free to leave your predictions, hopes or bets in the comments section below.

 

End

Thanks for visiting. 

Paul McNamara, 25 October 2019

Short URL: meta4RN.com/hash

 

Snow White, Complex Trauma and Twitter

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On Tuesday 4th December 2018 Naomi Halpern’s workshop “Working with Complex Trauma: The Snow White Model” was delivered at the Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital. I was amongst the small group of mental health nurses and social workers who joined the workshop via videoconference from Cairns Hospital. Here are my notes/tweets:

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What’s all this then?

Some people take notes in workshops using ye olde method of pen and paper. I’m not criticising – pen and paper are cute and quaint. But how on earth do they find their notes quickly and easily after the workshop has ended?.

I tweet my notes. They’re quickly and easily retrieved via phone, tablet or computer at anytime. Sometimes, if the presenter is OK with it, I collate workshop/conference tweets and plonk them all on my webpage for even quicker and easier future reference. That’s what this is all about.

Also, sometimes I have trouble explaining to other health professionals why I’m enthusiastic about Twitter for work-related stuff. It’s easier to show examples of how I use it, rather than just chin-wagging and flapping-about like a chook in a cyclone.

End

Sincere thanks to Naomi Halpern (aka @halpernnaomi1) for an engaging, informative workshop. For a single person to hold the attention and interest of those of us who were joining via videoconference for a whole day is very impressive. Also, I’m grateful to Naomi for agreeing to my request to collate these tweets here.

That’s it. As always, your feedback is welcome via the comments section below.

Paul McNamara, 8th December 2018

Short URL: meta4RN.com/SnowWhite

#ACMHN2018 on Twitter

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Information from and about ACMHN’s 44th International Mental Health Nursing Conference went well beyond the walls of the Cairns conference venue, and bounced around the world via social media.

Over the week of the conference more than 320 separate Twitter accounts used the #ACMHN2018 hashtag. There were over 2,750 tweets. 40 or so (less than 50, anyway) of the conference delegates, keynote speakers and sponsors were using the #ACMHN2018 hashtag – the content they generated was shared by over 250 people not in attendance. Many thanks to the relatively small percentage of conference participants who have amplified mental health nursing’s voice and values.

Free access to the #ACMHN2018 data and content is online,

One last thing. People are already talking about next year’s conference in Sydney using the #ACMHN2019 hashtag. Will you be part of the conversation?

End

That’s it. I’ve done detailed dissections of conference tweeting previously. This time I’m just dropping the info that was published in the ACMHN “Tuesday Times” on 30/10/18.

Short and sweet. 🙂

If you’re after more info about the conference content, I suggest that you browse the #ACMHN2018 tweets via this link, or the conference abstracts via this link.

Paul McNamara, 31 October 2018

Short URL: meta4RN.com/ACMHN2018

 

Conversations, not just citations, count: Social Media and the International Journal of Mental Health Nursing

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This page serves as a place to collate the Prezi, YouTube video, abstract and list of references, data sources and visuals used for a presentation at the 44th ACMHN International Mental Health Nursing Conference.

Click on the pic to access the Prezi

Presenter Introductions

Paul McNamara is CNC with the Consultation Liaison Psychiatry Service at Cairns Hospital. Paul is also Social Media Editor of the International Journal of Mental Health Nursing.

Kim Usher is Professor and Head of School at the School of Health, University of New England. Kim is also Chief Editor of the International Journal of Mental Health Nursing.

Abstract

Traditionally the impact and reach of a specific journal article has been estimated through the measurement of how many times it is cited elsewhere in scholarly literature. Sometimes years could pass between conducting the original research, writing and refining drafts, submitting and reviewing manuscripts, the article being published, and subsequent researchers including this citation in their published reference list. The resulting time lag means that citations are a retrospective measurement of research impact.

There is however an alternative measure of research impact; a metric that is more immediate. This alternative does not rely on the passive hope that other people will see and share research findings, but allows interested parties to play a hand in generalised and targeted promotion of a published piece of research.

Charlene Li famously described social media not as a technology, but as a conversation (Israel, 2009). Now these online conversations can be quantified, and offer “real‐time” feedback to researchers/authors about the impact and reach of their published research.

In order to support these claims, we will provide an overview of the International Journal of Mental Health Nursing social media strategy. Altmetric data will be presented to demonstrate the measurable effects of this strategy. General information and specific examples will be shared so that researchers, authors, and the institutions that support their work, are exposed to strategies they could use to contribute to future Altmetric scores. In doing so, conference delegates who attend this presentation will be equipped with knowledge on how to improve the impact and reach of their publications on social media, and further their understanding of why this matters.

References, Data Sources + Presentation Visuals

Altmetric attention scores re top 5 IJMHN articles, data as at 18/09/18:

  1. Do adult mental health services identify child abuse and neglect? A systematic review https://wiley.altmetric.com/details/23964454
  2. Mental healthcare staff well‐being and burnout: A narrative review of trends, causes, implications, and recommendations for future interventions https://wiley.altmetric.com/details/30485876
  3. An integrative review exploring the physical and psychological harm inherent in using restraint in mental health inpatient settings https://wiley.altmetric.com/details/31986204
  4. Lethal hopelessness: Understanding and responding to asylum seeker distress and mental deterioration https://wiley.altmetric.com/details/17878566
  5. How many of 1829 antidepressant users report withdrawal effects or addiction? https://wiley.altmetric.com/details/43387887

Altmetric attention scores re IJMHN impact from July 2015 to June 2018, MS Excel spreadsheet data courtesy of Kornelia Junge, Senior Research Manager, Wiley.

Altmetric logo via https://www.altmetric.com/about-us/logos/ (retrieved 06/10/2018)

CrossRef data re IJMHN most-cited articles based on citations published in the last three years, via https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/14470349 (retrieved 04/10/2018)

Hootsuite logo via https://hootsuite.com/about/media-kit (retrieved 06/10/18)

IJMHN. (03/01/17). The @IJMHN 2017 New Year resolution is to refresh our Twitter home page and Tweeting practices. Watch this space! 🙂 [Tweet]. Retrieved from https://twitter.com/ijmhn/status/816202247604301824?s=21

International Journal of Mental Health Nursing, October 2018, volume 27, issue 5, cover image via https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/inm.12395

Israel, S. (foreward by Li, C.). (2009). Twitter Ville: How businesses can thrive in the new global neighborhoods. New York: Portfolio.

Tweet activity examples as at 06/10/18

  1. Combining #eMentalHealth intervention development with human computer interaction (HCI) design to enhance technology‐facilitated recovery for people with depression and/or anxiety conditions Amalie Søgaard Neilsen + @RhondaWilsonMHN https://twitter.com/ijmhn/status/1036177022811340800?s=21
  2. Meeting the needs of young people with psychosis: We MUST do better Editorial by @Michael_A_Roche @debraejackson @KimUsher3 + Wendy Cross https://twitter.com/ijmhn/status/1033277919865593858?s=21
  3. Literature review of trauma-informed care: Implications for mental health nurses https://twitter.com/ijmhn/status/1029110510569091072?s=21

Twitter data re IJMHN activity from July 2015 to June 2018 via http://www.twitonomy.com/profile.php?sn=IJMHN (retrieved 20/10/18)

Twitter data re IJMHN impact from July 2015 to June 2018 via https://analytics.twitter.com/user/IJMHN/home (retrieved 09/10/2018)

Twitter logo via https://about.twitter.com/en_us/company/brand-resources.html (retrieved 06/10/18)

Video Version

The YouTube version of the presentation (slightly different to the conference version) can be viewed below and/or shared using this URL: https://youtu.be/vWSI3u4O2Bc

Presentation Tweets

Using Hootsuite, these Tweets using the conference hashtag (#ACMHN2018) were scheduled to be sent during the presentation. Look Mum! No Hands!

 

Citation

To cite this page:
McNamara, P. (2018). Conversations, not just citations, count: Social Media and the International Journal of Mental Health Nursing. Retrieved from https://meta4RN.com/count

To cite the presentation abstract:
McNamara, P. & Usher, K. (2018). Conversations, not just citations, count: Social Media and the International Journal of Mental Health Nursing. International Journal of Mental Health Nursing, Volume 27, Issue S1, Page 31 onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/inm.12539

End

That’s it. Thanks for reading this far down the page. You’re probably the only one who’s bothered. 🙂

In keeping with the theme of the presentation, I’d be grateful if you share the page with your social networks.

As always, questions and feedback are welcomed via the comments section below.

Paul McNamara, 15 October 2018

Short URL meta4RN.com/count

Update: 20 October 2018

There was a flat spot in the original presentation where I struggled to convey clarity and sustain interest. In an effort to overcome this, I deleted a couple of slides from the original Prezi, modified another, and added the data/chart below. Thank you for your helpful critique and suggestions @StellaGRN.

Update: 27 October 2018

The Tweets that were scheduled to coincide with the presentation have now been embedded in the post.

Why on earth would a mental health nurse use social media?

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Here’s my contribution to Chapter 15 “E-Mental Health” in “Mental Health: A Person-Centred Approach, 2nd edition.”

There is a famous quote attributed to author, speaker and Harvard Business School graduate Charlene Li that states, “Twitter is not a technology. It’s a conversation. And it’s happening with or without you.” This is not unique to Twitter – the same notion applies to all of social media.

Over the years a lot of talk about healthcare matters and nursing has happened without including nurses. Since the emergence of social media, nurses don’t have to wait to be invited to join in these conversations. We nurses we can share our experience, knowledge and values with the world, whether the world want to hear us or not. To paraphrase author, feminist and media expert Jane Caro, social media allows nurses and midwives unmediated access to public conversations for the first time in history.

We would be foolish to let that opportunity slip by.

I’m a mental health nurse working in consultation liaison psychiatry in a busy general hospital in a regional city in Australia. People like me often go unheard in the “big picture” discussions. As a busy clinician, I’m not ever likely to pump-out dozens of journal articles or write books about my role.

Clinical nurses like me are more likely to share ‘war-stories” with each other. A lot of interesting, funny, sad and (sometimes) scary things happen on the frontline. There’s a strong oral tradition of story-telling amongst nurses and midwives, and we learn a lot from each other. Social media allows us to share our stories beyond our workplace and beyond our immediate workmates. We can share our stories with nurses, midwives, and anyone else who is interested all over the world. As our circles of communication and connection become wider and more diverse, our minds expand, we learn more, we have an opportunity to reflect on our work more. It’s a fun way to do professional development.

Some of your patients, some of your colleagues, and some of your current or future employers will use a search engine like google to find out more about you. They probably won’t be malicious or creepy. They’ll probably just be idly curious. Either way – no matter their intent – don’t you want to be in charge of what they find?

I think it’s important to be clear and intentional when using social media. Nurses already know about boundaries and confidentiality, and are nearly always good at in the flesh. Sometimes nurses blur boundaries between their social life and professional life online. That’s where it gets tricky.  I suggest having two distinctly different social media identities: a personal one for family and friends, and a professional one for patients, colleagues and employers.

Personal use of social media is where you share photos of holidays and parties with family and friends on services like Facebook or Instagram. Relax. Have fun with it. Don’t bother naming your employer, or talk too much about work there. It’s a place to enjoy yourself. Do you have to use your actual name? A nickname will increase your privacy.

Professional use of social media is based on your area of expertise and interests. This use of social media allows you to share information and interact with other individuals and organisations that have the similar interests. Here you don’t want to hide your light under a bushel: use your real name.

I have a blog that I usually update every month or so with posts that are of interest to me: have a look at meta4RN.com if you’re interested in what a nursing blog looks like. It’s not the only nursing blog out there – in fact, there are many nursing blogs that are much fancier and more regularly updated than mine. Visit the NurseUncut Blogroll (www.nurseuncut.com.au/blog-roll) to track down others.

Twitter is a fantastic way to connect with people all over the world. The best way to learn about Twitter is to follow people who are already using it – please feel free to follow me via my Twitter handle: @meta4RN. By way of explanation, “meta4RN” is a homophone: read it as either “metaphor RN” or “meta for RN”.

I also use the meta4RN handle on Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, Prezi and other online accounts. Nearly all of the things I share on these social media platforms relate to my professional life, but there’s room for a bit of playfulness and fun too. Professional doesn’t have to be boring. Just check on yourself as go, and ask, “is this something I want my patients, colleagues and managers to see?” If not, either it belongs on your personal social media accounts, or shouldn’t be posted at all.

So, back to the opening question: why on earth would a mental health nurse use social media? To connect and collaborate with others, for professional development, to make sure that ordinary clinical nurses have a voice online, and to expand my horizons. Also, it doesn’t hurt that when people do search for me online I am in control of what is seen.

Explainer

You may be wondering why I’m sharing this excerpt now. Simple – I’m drawing attention to this news:

Being named best in category for “Tertiary (Wholly Australian) Teaching and Learning Resource: blended learning (print and digital)” at the Educational Publishing Awards 2018 is a pretty big deal. The authors and editors deserve to be congratulated.

I’m very grateful to Rhonda Wilson (aka @RhondaWilsonMHN) for inviting me to contribute to the book. It’s not false modesty to note that my contribution isn’t what won the book the award, but I’m pleased as punch to be part of it!

End

Thanks for reading. While you’re at it, have a squiz at Rhonda’s blog: rhondawilsonmhn.com 🙂

Paul McNamara, 22nd September 2018

Short URL: meta4RN.com/book

References

Israel, S. (foreward by Li, C.). (2009). Twitterville: How businesses can thrive in the new global neighborhoods. New York: Portfolio.

Wilson, R. (contribution by McNamara, P.) . (2017). E-mental health. In Procter, N., Hamer, H., McGarry, D., Wilson, R., & Froggatt, T. (Editors.), Mental health : a person-centred approach, second edition (pp. 360-362). Cambridge University Press, Port Melbourne, Australia.

2018 ACMHN Consultation Liaison / Perinatal Infant Mental Health Conference on Twitter

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The 16th ACMHN Consultation Liaison Special Interest Group annual conference, held in conjunction with the 7th ACMHN Perinatal Infant Mental Health Special Interest Group annual conference, was held at the Royal Brisbane and Womens Hospital from Wednesday 6 June to Friday 8 June 2018. The theme of the conference was “The Art of Applying the Science: Consultation Liaison and Perinatal & Infant Mental Health Nurses in Action”. As is typical of healthcare conferences, a conference hashtag was announced; #ACMHN was used on Twitter by six of the fifty-ish conference participants.

One of the observations made by Martin Salzmann-Erikson in his paper Mental health nurses’ use of Twitter for professional purposes during conference participation using #ACMHN2016 was that conference participants who do not engage with Twitter may feel that they’re excluded from a “privileged backchannel” of communication. On one hand this is complete nonsense. No conference participants are excluded from Twitter. Those who do not use Twitter/the conference hashtag are just exercising a choice. On the other hand, they may not be using Twitter and/or a conference hashtag simply because they have not been exposed to a reason to do so. It is with the latter in mind that the Tweets using the #ACMHN hashtag over the course of the conference are collated below.

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#ACMHN Tweeps

If you’ve scanned through the content above you’ll see that two Tweeps (ie: people who use Twitter) generated the vast majority of the #ACMHN Tweets. It’s not obvious from a quick glance, but many of the #ACMHN Tweets were retweeted (ie: shared). Seventeen Tweeps used/retweeted the #ACMHN hashtag 167 times over the course of the conference [data source], they are:
Cynthia Delgado @Cyn4CLMH*
Kim Foster @FostKim*
#HELLOMYNAMEISBJ @FewingsBj*
Anabel de la Riva @AnabeldelaRiva*
Chris Egginton @ChrisEgginton*
NWMH Graduate Nurses @NWMHgrads*
Peta Marks @petamarks*
Sharene Duncan @brisequine*
Chelesee @Chelesee1*
Veriti @Veritihealth*
A/Prof Rhonda Wilson @RhondaWilsonMHN*
Australian College of Mental Health Nurses @ACMHN*
Melissa Sweet @croakeyblog*
#HelloMyNameIs Kenny (RN) @kennygibsonnhs*
International Network of Nurse Leaders @inNurseLeaders*
Dr. Anja K. Peters @thesismum*
Paul McNamara [me] @meta4RN*
Key
* #ACMHN conference delegates [n = 6]
* Australian #ACMHN retweeters [n = 7]
* International #ACMHN retweeters [n = 4]

Many thanks to all who shared conference info with the #ACMHN hashtag. Thanks also to those who commented on/interacted with Tweets using the hashtag, but did not use the hashtag themselves (these Tweeps are not listed above).

Final Notes

  1. Each of my Tweets that announced a workshop or presentation were pre-scheduled using Hootsuite (ie: I wasn’t as busy Tweeting during the conference as it seems).
  2. Collating Tweets on a web page is irritatingly time-consuming. It used to be much quicker and easier (missing you Storify!). The upside of collating Tweets on a web page is that they serve as a record/brief notes of the conference, so if I need to come back to anything it’s all in one easy-to-find place.  Hopefully others will find it of interest too.
  3. Just in case you skipped-over it: watching the vid attached to Tweet 92 is definitely worth it – a highlight of the conference!
  4. Previous visitors to meta4RN.com may be experiencing a sense of déjà vu. To rid yourself of spooky feels, visit this same-same-but-different companion piece:
    #ACMHN Looking back at the 2013 Consultation Liaison / Perinatal Infant Conference through a Social Media Lens meta4RN.com/noosa 

End

That’s it. Thanks for visiting. As always your thoughts and feedback are welcomed in the comments section below.

Paul McNamara, 10th June 2018

Short URL: meta4RN.com/Brisneyland

PS:

https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

Sex Essentials – The Fairy Tale

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On Friday 18 May 2018 the Cairns Sexual Health Service hosted their seventh Sex Essentials education day for nurses, GPs, youth workers, allied health, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health workers, educators and community workers. These annual education days are famous in FNQ and beyond for being energetic and fun. Each Sex Essentials day has a different theme, the 2018 theme was “The Fairy Tale”.

Regular visitors to meta4RN.com know that I’m a fan of taking health education beyond the classroom/conference walls by using social media. While readily acknowledging that there’s no way to capture the whole day on a web page, hopefully this collation of Tweets gives a taste of the creative, inspiring, fun and educational event that was Sex Essentials – The Fairy Tale:

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More info re #SMACC (Social Media and Critical Care) here.
More info re #FOAMed (Free Open Access Meducation) here.
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This is not an exaggeration. For example, watch this short presentation about how FNQ is home to Australia’s first Hep-C free prison here.
Vimeo

AVHEC 2017 – Darren Russell “Keynote 11 – Eliminating Hepatitis C – The Cairns Experience” from ASHM on Vimeo.

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You know what bear means, right? If not, have a quick read here.
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Sincere thanks to Max for an excellent keynote presentation, and agreeing to this Tweet being in the public domain.
Also, my mistake: that should read cisgender/cisgendered.
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URL to the How Much Do You Know? podcasts: eastsidefm.org/howmuchdoyouknow
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URL to Cairns Sexual Health Service: www.health.qld.gov.au/cairns_hinterland/html/shealth
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This session was facilitated by psychologist Suzanne Habib, and drew on the lived experience and generous wisdom of three remarkable people who shared their stories and answered our (sometimes a bit dumb) questions.
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Finishing-Up

For the sake of posterity, here are pics of the program.

Morning

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Also for posterity, and by way of thanks to the slightly crazy, but very fun, staff of Cairns Sexual Health Service, here is the way the day started:

More info re Cairns Sexual Health Service here.

Visit the their Facebook page for more photos and info re future Sex Essentials days – health education done right.

End 

As always, comments are welcome in the section below.

Paul McNamara, 19 May 2018

Short URL: meta4RN.com/sex

Obesity: Personal or Social Responsibility

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On 22/05/13 Joseph Proietto presented the keynote “Obesity: Personal or Social Responsibility?” at the International Council of Nurses 25th Quadrennial Congress.

The hashtag #ICNAust2013 took the session beyond the conference walls via generous nurses tweeting with wit and wisdom. [Thanks!]

If you read this I guarantee that you will learn 4 things in 5 minutes:

  1. How obesity works
  2. How Twitter at a healthcare conference works
  3. How an aggregation tool can add value to Twitter content
  4. How nurses can be simultaneously generous, incisive and funny

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Explanation

These Tweets were initially compiled using a social media aggregation tool called Storify
storify.com/meta4RN/obesity-personal-or-social-responsibility

Unfortunately, Storify is shutting-down on 16 May 2018 and all content will be deleted.

I’m using my blog as a place to mimic/save the Storify pages I created and value.

This page is a companion piece to the October 2016 page meta4RN.com/obesity 

End

As always, please use the comments section below for any feedback/questions.

Paul McNamara, 1st April 2018

Short URL: meta4RN.com/ConfTweets

Delirium Risks and Prevention

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Tweets re the guest lecture by Prof Sharon Inouye at Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital (and Cairns via videolink) on 16th October 2017.

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Explanation

These Tweets were initially compiled using a social media aggregation tool called Storify https://storify.com/meta4RN/delirium-risks-and-prevention

Unfortunately, Storify is shutting-down on 16 May 2018 and all content will be deleted.

I’m using my blog as a place to mimic/save the Storify pages I created and value.

End

As always, please use the comments section below for any feedback/questions.

Paul McNamara, 10th March 2018

Short URL: meta4RN.com/delirium