Dubai Pharmacy College for Girls, 19099, Muhaisanah 1, Al Mizhar, Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
Emergency Medicine Department, Rashid Hospital, Dubai Health Authority, Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
Curr Pharm Teach Learn. 2021 Feb;13(2):102-108. doi: 10.1016/j.cptl.2020.02.017. Epub 2020 May 14.
It is imperative to establish how students view and present themselves on social media and to assess level of awareness regarding the implications of their social media presence, e-professionalism, and accountability. The study objectives were to: 1) Determine the social media usage levels among medical and pharmacy students in the United Arab Emirates (UAE); 2) Characterize the students' views and perceptions, including their awareness of e-professionalism; and 3) Compare the responses in behavior between the two groups.
A cross-sectional study was performed on 575 undergraduate students from two study disciplines, pharmacy (n = 325) and medicine (n = 250). Minor revisions were made to previously validated assessment tools and pilot tested. The study sample included students from five different universities across the country.
In comparison to medical students, pharmacy students were observed to use social media more for learning purposes (χ = 6.8, P < .05). However, medical students' opinions reflected more strongly on the context of accountability and e-professionalism (χ = 15.8, P < .05). A considerable proportion (89%) of students felt it was discriminatory for prospective employers to use their social media profile information for investigative purposes while hiring. One-third of respondents reported sharing information that they would not want their employers to view, and 67.1% reported the same for information relevant to patients.
The research findings converge to address the need for educators and administrators in the UAE to develop guidelines concerning its safe use and proactively integrate e-professionalism into their respective curriculum.
了解学生如何在社交媒体上展示自己并评估他们对社交媒体存在、电子专业精神和责任的认识程度是当务之急。本研究的目的是：1）确定阿联酋医学生和药学学生的社交媒体使用水平；2）描述学生的观点和看法，包括他们对电子专业精神的认识；3）比较两组学生在行为上的反应。
对来自两个学科的 575 名本科生（药学专业 n=325，医学专业 n=250）进行了横断面研究。对之前验证的评估工具进行了微小修订并进行了试点测试。研究样本包括来自全国五所不同大学的学生。
与医学生相比，药学专业学生更倾向于将社交媒体用于学习目的（χ²=6.8，P<.05）。然而，医学生的观点在责任和电子专业精神方面反映得更强烈（χ²=15.8，P<.05）。相当一部分（89%）的学生认为，雇主在招聘时出于调查目的使用他们的社交媒体个人资料信息是歧视性的。三分之一的受访者表示分享了他们不希望雇主看到的信息，而 67.1%的受访者表示分享了与患者相关的信息。
研究结果表明，阿联酋的教育工作者和管理者需要制定有关社交媒体安全使用的指南，并将电子专业精神主动纳入各自的课程中。
