Using the media 6

Using the Media Over the past few years, conveyance of information has changed drastically to include social networking sites, blogs, websites and SMS’s. Presently, almost everyone depends on information and communication in order to move through their daily activities such as health care, travelling, entertainment and personal relationships (Miller, 2011). It is a common thing to wake up in the morning and check your phone for messages, notifications on new uploads or have a look at the television or newspaper. Therefore, a health practitioner can use the influence of these media to pass information to the people within a locality.
In order to influence public opinion and as a nurse, I would use the media to apply pressure and advance the public policy issue. This would serve as a way of marshaling the constituents. Additionally, in order to communicate the public policy issue through the media, the message to be conveyed would need to be framed to make the information understandable by the public (Mason et al., 2011). The media can also be ineffective if the messages are conveyed to the wrong target group. It is at this point that I would determine the target group or audience for the communication. The social networking media can be effective means of communicating the public policy issue. A message passed through any of the social media sites and websites such as Facebook, Twitter and blogs can be weighty (Anderson & Puckrin, 2011). Therefore, it would be effective to have a post in all social networking websites and blogs on the current state of the policy issue, and an expounded state of the policy issue and comments of a policy maker in an opinion editorial.
However, although social networking websites may be helpful in conveying useful information, there are numerous concerns that need to be considered (Miller, 2011). These include privacy and confidentiality of information. Patient confidentiality and privacy is an essential issue that continues to be violated by social media users (Anderson & Puckrin, 2011). It would be ethically and professionally wrong for a nurse to expose patient information without their consent.
References
Anderson, J. & Puckrin, K. (2011). Social network use: A test of self-regulation. Journal of Nursing Regulation, 2(1), 36-41.
Mason, D. J., Leavitt, J. K., & Chaffee, M. W. (Eds.) (2011). Policy politics in nursing and healthcare (6th ed.). St. Louis, MO: Saunders Elsevier.
Miller, L. (2011). Social media: Friend and foe. The Journal of Perinatal & Neonatal Nursing, 25(4), 307-309.