Media is how the majority of Americans receive current and up to date information. Traditional types of media such as newspapers or television are becoming less relied on than social media in the present day.

Number 1: NG

Media is how the majority of Americans receive current and up to date information. Traditional types of media such as newspapers or television are becoming less relied on than social media in the present day. The more traditional types of media were more limited in their reach, and due to the nature of broadcasting and production, there was more of a delay in the information reaching the public (Patton et al. 2019). With social media, there are endless outlets at the touch of finger, as well as multiple devices constantly within our reach to access information. “The power of the internet to disseminate information is reflected on the fact that it is the second highest source of science news” (Charalambous, 2018, p. 25). While it is a great way of staying up to date on current events, there are some ethical limitations with using social media to propagate health policy. Within the current pandemic, the dichotomy of information regarding COVID-19, how its transmitted, how to treat it, and now vaccines, it can be hard to filter factual information. Professional organizations, such as the CDC, WHO and the FDA are looked upon, to confirm facts and provide the most current information to the public. In addition, coverage of issues on mainstream media, communicate information to policy makers, the concerns of the community, and are an avenue the public and professional nursing organizations have to get the attention of lawmakers (Patton et al., 2019). Another use of media in the realm of health policy, is public awareness of medical issues such as cancer or AIDS.

The use of hashtags in social media, have allowed topics in healthcare to trend, whether the subscriber is on Instagram, Facebook or Twitter. “Hashtag is used as a tool in the social media for sharing contents and getting maximum popularity” (Britto et al., 2018, p. 2). At the click of a mouse one can go down a rabbit hole of subscribers with similar beliefs and interests that can help to validate the importance of a healthcare concern. One example of a professional organization’s use of media to promote a health policy agenda was the #IceBucketChallenge. In 2014, researchers in need of funds for a project for the Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) Foundation, decided to turn to social media to fundraise for $1 million (Anders, 2020). In this challenge, individuals raised awareness for ALS by dumping buckets of ice water on their heads. Using the hashtag, the trend spread like wildfire, with over 10 billion videos uploaded internationally (Anders, 2020). By attracting major celebrities, such as Oprah Winfrey, Bill Gates, Taylor Swift, and even George W. Bush, massive attention was diverted to the Ice Bucket Challenge, and the ALS Foundation ended up earning over $220 million (Anders, 2020). “Those researchers’ credit new gene discoveries, new stem-cell models, and a better understanding of proteins involved in the fatal disease to the viral social media campaign” (Anders, 2020).

 

 

 

Number 2: GK

Online media has become particularly important in recent years especially related to health policy with a growth rate of nearly twenty-five percent per year (Levin-Zamir & Bertschi, 2018). A hot topic issue in health media right now is COVID-19 vaccinations and if they should be mandated for people who do not have health contraindications. Many large professional organizations have taken a stance on this issue especially since the last few months have shown a huge surge in COVID-19 cases and the American healthcare system is again beginning to crack under its’ weight.

The American Public Health Association (APHA) has published recent articles exemplifying that their stance is to highly encourage those who are able to get fully vaccinated, especially those who are working in patient care areas. The APHA says that COVID vaccines are the “logical fulfillment of the ethical commitment of all healthcare workers to put patients as well as residents of long-term care facilities first” (2021). Furthermore, this article specifically states that the APHA’s stance is that COVID-19 vaccines should be mandated for health care and long-term care workers to preserve the safety of the patients and residents that these workers care for. They say that “[vaccine] mandates are an essential policy to increase vaccination rates” in this type of workers (APHA, 2021).

This article promoting that vaccine mandates should be put into place is written very professionally and does have the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) cited as a source for their assertations about COVID-19 and the delta variant. They also discuss the reasons why they have taken this stance and how vaccine misinformation must be tackled alongside imposing mandates. The article does not discuss how any of this should be accomplished or any plans that they have specifically to solve this issue. This article is also quite strongly opinionated and does not offer the other side of the mandate issues, which may discount this article in the eyes of those who do not feel similarly to the APHA. It is a call to action, however because it is coming from a professional organization it should touch on the other side of this issue.

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