Are you one of the many authors who has published a paper in the Journal of Neuroscience Nursing this year or in previous years? Congratulations! Did you share the exciting news with your coworkers, your manager, your family, and your patients? Perhaps you are savvy with social media and shared the publication link on LinkedIn or Twitter! If you did not share on social media, why not?
Disseminating the outstanding work you have done with communities who would benefit from knowing about it is critical to nursing science. Sadly, many nurse authors, including us, have not shared their work outside the journal's audience.1 We nurses are known for being humble, as well as trustworthy.2 Promoting ourselves and our work may feel uncomfortable. However, times have changed dramatically. The COVID-19 pandemic has prevented us from gathering in person at professional conferences where we usually share what we know and the work we have done. It is time to look to the future, develop a personal and professional brand, and proudly disseminate our work to the world.
Let us follow the model our medical colleagues use by sharing our work broadly and frequently on social media. Social media connects people and issues. Seek out networks who share interest in the phenomenon you are passionate about and know so much about. You are at the bedside, you know what the issues are, and you have spent hours and hours identifying critical problems, conducting research, and implementing best practices. You have collected and analyzed data and then thoughtfully developed conclusions and recommendations. Share all of this[horizontal ellipsis]it is nursing science.
So how do you start if you have not used social media to disseminate your work? Try creating social media accounts on platforms such as Twitter and LinkedIn. Explore people and organizations to follow such as the Journal of Neuroscience Nursing (@JNN_journal) and the American Association of Neuroscience Nurses (@NeuroNursesAANN). Is using social media commonplace for you? If it is, share what you know with us; submit an abstract to present at the next Neuroscience Nursing Annual conference.
Promoting articles that you publish or that are important to neuroscience nursing practice on social media is important to advancing the science. Be proud of your work and share it with us, all of us. #shareyourwork, @phdb4ss, @Rhudy1Lori.
Drs Morrison and Rhudy declare that they are on the Editorial Board of the Journal of Neuroscience Nursing.
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