Soapbox 2.0: Blog and Microblog use by Pharmacists for Ranting and Discourse

Objective. This study was conducted to examine positive and negative aspects of pharmacist blogs and microblogs by assessing their characteristics. Background. A blog is a bidirectional online diary that engages readers and provides a mechanism for feedback. Methods. Pharmacist blogs in English with recent activity were identified. Six categories including: 1. practice-based topics (PBT), 2. identifying information (IDI), 3. positive language (PL), 4. critical language (CL), 5. professionalism (PRO), and 6. miscellaneous (MISC) comprising 32 criteria were developed to evaluate blogs. Results. Of 42 pharmacist blogs assessed, PBT demonstrated 69.0% discussed pharmacological therapies and 21.4% forecasted the profession’s future. No blogs contained patient-identifying information. Bloggers were divided into community (42.9%) and non-community (45.2%) practitioners; 11.9% indeterminable. 71.4% of bloggers maintained anonymity. Pharmacists commonly used PL describing their profession (23.8%), other healthcare professionals (21.4%), and patients (19.0%). Highest rates of CL included: patients (54.8%), other healthcare professionals (42.9%), and pharmacies (19.0%). For PRO, 33.3% of blogs included disclaimers. Half (50.0%) of blogs contained profane language. MISC revealed 26.1% of bloggers also have a microblog (Twitter) account; 9.5% mentioned colleges of pharmacy. Community practitioner bloggers used critical and unprofessional language most frequently. Conclusion. Blogs and microblogs represent new mediums to interact with patients and healthcare professionals, serve as an early warning system for the pharmacy profession, and promote dialogue. Blogs have potential to portray pharmacists negatively producing long-term damage to the profession, or advance the interests of the individual practitioner and profession. Grants. This study was not supported by funding.