Twitter and What I Found There

I have never really thought about twitter as a website I should use to help with my research for school projects.  It has always just been another app on my phone that I have used to provide me with entertainment and keep me in the loop with all my friends.  Seeing all the nursing accounts and all the engaging conversations going on, my perspective has been changed about twitter and what it is and is not useful for.

1.   What kinds of things do people on Twitter seem to be talking about, debating, arguing about or otherwise engaging in meaningful exchanges of ideas about? Give us a descriptive and clear sense of the kinds of stories you're seeing in these Twitter feeds.

A main topic on nursing twitter feeds is how to improve patient care.  Most nurses are extremely concerned about the patient stay and look for ways to improve.  For example, a post on @NursingTimes talked about compassion and competence from the caregiver being equally important.

2.   In your opinion, what are the two most interesting conversations or stories you found in the Twitter feeds? Hyperlink us to the two different Twitter feeds and explain why you found those conversations interesting. Be specific and honest and be yourself. I don't want you to blah-blah-blah this. I want you to really engage.

I really enjoyed the conversations on @NursingProbs.  It was a far less formal twitter feed than the others I looked at.  The conversations on it were mostly nursing students that were overwhelmed with school. I liked being able to relate to these students and see that everyone is stressed and see that being a pre-nursing major is universally difficult for everyone.

Calleamanecer. ICU Crucial Care. 07/21/11 via Wikimedia. Creative Commons

I’m really interested in pediatric nursing.  I love kids and am pretty certain I want to go into a field or nursing that relates to children health.  The @PedNursing feed was really enjoyable for me to read.  It was assuring to see how much pediatric nurses love their jobs and come home feelings rewarded every day.

3.   Overall, what impression do you get of your discipline based on what you saw happening on Twitter? Were the people in these feeds talking in ways you expected or did not expect, about things you anticipated they'd be talking about or things you had no idea they'd be discussing? Explain in concise specific detail.

My family is full of nurses so I would hear conversations similar to the ones I saw posts about on twitter frequently when I lived at home.  I wasn’t surprised by the types of conversations going on.  My aunts are always talking about issues at work.  A big debate I’ve seen in nursing is whether compassion or competence is the most important aspect about nursing.  There were a lot of posts regarding this. 

Growing up my grandparents were in and out of the hospitals and the most notable people were always the nurses.  Whether they were good or bad they had the most impact on my grandparents stays in the hospital.  For me, this has always been a big motivator for me in regards to my future career.  Seeing that other nurses are also concerned about helping patients while also being competent and efficient nursing is assuring.