Parents' Use of Social Media for Health Information Before and After a Consultation With Health Care Professionals: Australian Cross-Sectional Study.

Background: Social media is a crucial source of health information for many parents due to its integration into modern life, raising critical concerns for public health. Parents use various social media platforms to find health information for their children, with most information created and shared by parents with no medical or health training. The extent to which parents seek health information from social media before and after a consultation and their motivations for doing so remain underresearched. Objective: This study aimed to investigate Australian parents' use of social media for health information for their children, aged between 6 months and 5 years, before and after consulting with health care professionals. Methods: A representative cross-sectional survey of 1000 Australian parents with children aged 6 months to 5 years was conducted between November and December 2021. Data were cleaned and analyzed using IBM SPSS software. The primary outcomes were (1) parental motivation and prevalence of social media use for health information and (2) parental motivation for using social media before and after a consultation with their child's health care professional. Results: Of the 1000 parents surveyed, 82.2% (n=822) reported using social media for health information for their child. Parents were more likely to consult social media before and after a health consultation if they were aged 30-39 or ≥50 years and born in Australia. Parents with higher levels of education were less likely to consult social media. Parents were motivated to seek health information before a consultation for a variety of reasons, including exchanging opinions and experiences (639/767, 83.3%), having information that is available 24/7 (622/767, 81.1%), receiving emotional support (599/767, 78.1%), having previous positive experiences (597/767, 77.8%), and having friends and family that use social media for health information (577/767, 75.2%). Parents sought information after a consultation to connect with parents with similar experiences (546/794, 68.8%), seek a second opinion (505/794, 63.6%), fact-check information provided by their health care professional (483/794, 60.8%), and look for other treatment options (353/794, 44.5%). Conclusions: Using social media for child health information is part of the modern parenting experience. It can be challenging to discern the quality of health information on social media, leaving parents open to incorrect information and misinformation. Although access to immediate social support is a welcomed feature of social media, receiving incorrect health information can have unwanted consequences for the child, family, health provider, and wider community. The upskilling of parental health literacy to navigate the unique health literacy challenges that social media brings, alongside the creation and delivery of accessible, evidence-based information in varying formats, is urgently required. The provision of this information is the responsibility of every level of the health system, not just the treating health care professional.

Parents' Use of Social Media as a Health Information Source for Their Children: A Scoping Review.

BACKGROUND: Parents are increasingly using social media to inform health decisions for their children. OBJECTIVE: This scoping review examines 1) How do parents use social media to find health information for their children? 2) What motivates parents to engage with social media to seek health information for their children? 3) How do parents seek to understand and evaluate the health information they find on social media, and how does social media impact parental health information-seeking? METHODS: Scopus, CINAHL, Medline, PubMed, and Embase databases were searched, with open date parameters. Peer-reviewed studies that examined parents' and responsible caregivers' use of social media as a source of health information for their children (aged <18 years) were included. RESULTS: The 42 included studies spanned 2011 to 2020. More than half (n = 24, 57%) were published in 2019 and 2020. Parents use social media for information about specific health concerns both before and after a medical diagnosis for their child. Parents are motivated to engage with social media as they seek out extensive information based on lived experience from other parents, as well as social support and community. CONCLUSION: This scoping review reveals parents' motivation to use social media for health information, and how that can interact with, and impose on, clinical practice. It is important for those who provide pediatric health care to both understand and accommodate this permanent shift facilitated by social media, when working with parents who are seeking health information when making health decisions for their children.

[Bronchoscopy-guided decannulation of tracheostomy in patients with brain injury]. / Agysérült betegek tracheostomájának dekanülálása bronchoszkópos ellenorzés mellett.

INTRODUCTION: Progress in intensive care management of patients with severe brain injury due to trauma or vascular lesion significantly improved the mortality and increased the number of patients with tracheostomy who undergo treatment in rehabilitation departments. AIM: The aim of the authors was to describe the safe tracheostomy decannulation method of patients with brain injury during rehabilitation. METHOD: A prospective, descriptive study performed at the rehabilitation departments of the National Institute for Medical Rehabilitation in Budapest, Hungary. RESULTS: From January 1 until December 31, 2013, thirty examinations with flexible bronchoscope for tracheostomy decannulation were performed in 20 patients. The patients were admitted to the rehabilitation wards with various brain injuries: 6 patients suffered from trauma, 5 had ischemic stroke, 3 patients had brain stem haemorrhage, 2 patients cerebellar and one patient bifrontal haemorrhage. One patient had menangioma, and one had multiple organ failure and anoxic brain injury caused by pneumonia. The average age of patients was 44 years (range, 18-80 years). During the procedure successful decannulation was performed in 13 patients. Decannulation occurred 62 days after tracheostomy on average. CONCLUSIONS: Safe patient care requires that various medical departments keep pace with the development of different specialities. To ensure early rehabilitation of patients with severe brain injury having tracheostomy, safe treatment and, if possible, decannulation should be performed. This procedure requires the involvement of a physician with bronchoscopy skills as well as the development of local protocols.