ESPE Abstracts (2014) 82 WG7.3

ESPE2014 Working Groups Nurses (3 abstracts)

Endocrine Nursing, Social Media, and Research: Results of an International Study

Kate Davies


Great Ormond Street Hospital, London, UK


Background: Social media usage is rapidly changing and advancing methods of communication, both personally and professionally. To bridge the theory practice gap, nurses need to be involved in research, both conducting, reading and disseminating. Currently, no journal exists for endocrine nurses.

Objective and Hypotheses: To explore endocrine nurses’ experiences in conducting, reading and disseminating research, and whether social media would be an appropriate channel, or if a new endocrine nursing journal or platform could be developed.

Method: An International Internet Survey was distributed to UK Nurse members of the British Society of Paediatric Endocrinology (BSPED) and the Society of Endocrinology. Flyers with a link to the survey were distributed at The Society of Endocrinology Nurse Update (Stratford upon Avon, UK, 2013),European Society of Paediatric Endocrinology (ESPE) Nurses session (Milan, Italy, 2013), BSPED Nurses meeting (Brighton, UK, 2013), European Congress of Endocrinology Nurses Session (Wroclaw, Poland, 2014) and the joint International Congress of Endocrinology/American Endocrine Society (ICE/ENDO) Nurses Symposium (Chicago, 2014). Key representatives from endocrine nursing groups in Australia, the USA and Europe were also emailed. We actively encouraged respondents to distribute the survey link within their professional networks.

Results: The majority of endocrine nurses use social networks on a professional basis, however a sizeable minority use them to keep up to date with current research and professional development. A considerable proportion of endocrine nurses expressed an interest in contributing to an endocrine nursing journal, with a strong preference being shown for nurse led research, case histories, guidelines, and literature reviews.

Conclusion: In the light of the results, we conclude that endocrine nurses are well motivated to create and consume primary research in a networked environment, and that neither existing journals nor non-specialist social networks adequately meet their professional needs.

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