In this blog post nursing students Sara Dean, Alex Connolly, Andrena Christie, Gary McCrea, Eddie McArdle and Ryan Cahoon discuss setting up the @NFM1121EBN Twitter page and reflect on its development.
COVID-19 has changed our lives in so many ways but one thing that has not changed is that the evidence-based practice we deliver to our patients is still constantly changing. This is due to new knowledge, research, regulatory codes of practice and clinical guidelines. As nursing students on the front-line, there has never been a greater urgency for us to have access to evidence that will help us to work safely, optimise patient experience and protect our own physical/mental health…if only there was a way this information came straight to us!
COVID-19 has made life more challenging for us all. As nursing students, undertaking an award-winning nursing programme at Queen’s University Belfast (#JustSaying – Student Nursing Times 2020 Nurse Education Provider of the Year), we are sadly not immune to challenges. But rather than spend our time focusing on challenges, we thought we would try something a little daring.
In September 2020, we launched a dedicated twitter channel for the year one nursing module: Evidence-Based Nursing. We had already been working with the module coordinator @GaryMitchellRN over the summer months to co-design the new EBN module for year one nursing students. One of our ‘big ideas’ was to provide something that could help nursing students connect with the latest evidence in real-time AND to provide something that helped nursing students connect with one another, albeit virtually…and so, the @NFM1121EBN twitter page was born.
Our tagline for this student-led account is ‘Connecting Nursing Students to Improve Knowledge & Care’. We have even got our own hashtag going #QUBEBN. Twitter is an online social networking service that allows users to send a message (known as a tweet) using 280-characters to each other or their followers. While everyone can see a tweet, you must be an account holder to reply or share a tweet. Interested in setting up your own Twitter account? Check out this simple guide: http://www.wecommunities.org/blogs/3503
We now have 320 followers, and this number has been steadily increasing since we developed this Twitter channel. Our followers include healthcare professional students, healthcare professionals, researchers, policymakers, patient advocacy groups and healthcare journals. In the last week, our #QUBEBN has made more than 70,000 impressions on social media, with a potential reach of more than 11,000 unique twitter users.
We believe this Twitter channel will support nursing students to keep the conversation going after online classes, promote the sharing of new evidence/knowledge amongst users and provide a forum for professional networking between students, their peers and other healthcare professionals interested in evidence-based practice.
But our Twitter channel is not all about evidence-based nursing, if it were the letters E.B.N would probably stand for Everybody is Bored Now… (Shoutout to Zach Mitchell from the EBN Pod; if you know, you know!) Our channel is also a place for connecting student nurses with other like-minded people and supporting them in their journey. We make no apologies for lots of GIFs (that is pronounced JIF not GIF), short inspirational quotes or promotion of other learning activities that might be of interest to our audience. As you will see, we are big reweeters and recently we have been sharing plenty of selfies from our current Sept 20 Cohort – just check out our page!
So, whether you are interested in using the account to access the latest evidence, engage in professional networking or just following the conversation, we think there is something for just about everyone! So why not take the plunge and set up your own professional account, give us a follow, retweet our content and connect with us all!
Right now, we are like islands in the sea, separate on the surface – but connected in the deep. (William James 1842-1910).
EBN Student Champions
Sara Dean (@SDeanStN)
Alex Connolly (@AleexConnolly)
Andrena Christie (@AndrenaChristie)
Gary McCrea (@GaryMcCrea)
Eddie McArdle (@ArdleEdward)
Ryan Cahoon (Not on Twitter?!)
A fantastic idea, it’s good to see EBN having such an enthusiastic student base!
What a great student-led initiative using social media to inform EBN and support each other. Keen to see how the project evolves and the benefits and impact from the perspective of our students. The project might offer a useful way forward for other modules. Professor Michael Brown
Well done folks this is a brilliant initiative that offers a solution-focused approach that serves you and our profession well. It also chimes loudly the values of inclusiveness, innovation and co-production that are central to all we do @qubsonm! Congratulations – I’m so very pleased to see you all shine so early in your careers!
This is a fantastic innovative approach to supporting learning for each other. Well done!
Amazing innovative work. I am so proud to belong to a School that has students and staff developing new opportunities to stay connected so that we can continue to learn and deliver best practice. Well done to all those involved.
When I first ‘liked’ the page I was massively impressed by the sheer simplicity and brilliance of this idea. You continue to curate your page and connect with others, with style and class – very well done to all in involved!
Well done to all involved! I have got to know a number of you since you commenced Year 2 I am not surprised at the success your Twitter innovation has had so far – it is great to work with students who are so engaged and active in their learning. I am honored to be a part of your education journey at QUB and here’s to the continued success of your initiative. Congratulations again!