Storytelling via social media in the ambulance services
Ambulance services use social media for many different reasons—education, public health messages, sharing knowledge, and supporting research in out-of-hospital care are just four of these. But there's so much more to it than that.
Yet sadly, we are sometimes criticised for our use of social media. A few have gone a step further, having made formal complaints to trusts or their regulator, usually on a charge of breaching confidentiality or publishing patient-identifiable information. Some of these criticisms are raised with genuine concern; others are abrupt and seemingly out to ruin the reputations of the authors—although none of these have ever been upheld after investigation.
In addition, there has been a rise in keyboard warriors, bullies and trolls, who hide behind the anonymity of fake or parody accounts to insult others and bring down ambulance staff by branding them as self-promoters. The experience of some ambulance staff—particularly those on the receiving end of more direct, aggressive comments on social media—has had a damaging personal impact on their mental health, and left many others feeling apprehensive about posting or disenchanted with social media altogether.
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