title: Professional online community membership and participation among healthcare providers: An extension to nurse practitioners and physician assistants.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Professional online communities allow healthcare providers to exchange ideas with their colleagues about best practices for patient care. Research on this topic has focused almost exclusively on primary care physicians and specialists, to the exclusion of advanced practice providers such as nurse practitioners and physician assistants. We expand this literature by examining membership and participation on these websites among each of these provider groups.
  
  
  METHODS
  Participants (N = 2008; approximately 500 per provider group) responded to an Internet-based survey in which they were asked if they use professional online communities to dialogue with colleagues and if so, what their motivation is for doing so.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Nearly half of the participants in our sample reported utilizing professional online communities. Select differences were observed between provider groups, but overall, similar patterns emerged in their membership and participation on these websites.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Nurse practitioners and physician assistants utilize professional online communities in similar proportion to primary care physicians and specialists. Providers should be cognizant of the impact this use may have for both themselves and their patients. Researchers are urged to take into account the various professional roles within the healthcare community while developing research on this topic.
authors.affiliation: U.S. Food and Drug Administration, Silver Spring, Maryland.
authors.forename: Kevin R
authors.initials: KR
authors.lastname: Betts
authors.affiliation: U.S. Food and Drug Administration, Silver Spring, Maryland.
authors.forename: Amie C
authors.initials: AC
authors.lastname: O'Donoghue
authors.affiliation: U.S. Food and Drug Administration, Silver Spring, Maryland.
authors.forename: Kathryn J
authors.initials: KJ
authors.lastname: Aikin
authors.affiliation: RTI International, Research Triangle Park, North Carolina.
authors.forename: Bridget J
authors.initials: BJ
authors.lastname: Kelly
authors.affiliation: RTI International, Washington, DC.
authors.forename: Vanessa
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Boudewyns
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D003256:Community Participation / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009722:Nurse Practitioners / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D010823:Physician Assistants / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D061108:Social Media / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D012952:Societies / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires
keywords: Collaborative medicine; information sharing; online communities; social media