University of Victoria, InspireNet
InspireNet: A virtual nursing network developed through social media and Web 2.0 technologies
InspireNet (Innovative Nursing Services and Practice Informed by Research and Evaluation) is BC’s Nursing Health Services Research Network and was established two years ago as a project that is part of a suite of programs in BC supported by the BC Nursing Research Initiative (BCNRI) and funded through the Michael Smith Foundation for Health Research. InspireNet was formed to increase capacity among BC nurses to conduct and use health services research. With that mandate, the network’s target audience required reaching out to nurses in diverse settings across geographical boundaries. Thus, it was clear from the beginning that InspireNet could only accomplish its goals by becoming virtual and making full use of social networking and Web 2.0 technologies. InspireNet has experienced rapid growth, now having nearly 1,400 members. Organized through development of several action teams, the network is accomplishing its work by having groups of people attend to focused areas of common interest. InspireNet’s Evaluation Coordinating Committee entered into an emerging area of research at the intersection of social media, Web 2.0, and health professional practice. Noreen Frisch, who is a co-leader of the network and the chair of its evaluation team reported on the knowledge gained from the use of social media and Web 2.0 technologies to create a virtual nursing network, the first professional nursing network in Canada that has attempted to conduct its work almost exclusively through social media and electronic communities of practice.
Members of the InspireNet Evalutaion Team: Noreen Frisch (UVic, School of Nursing), Elizabeth Borycki, (UVic, School of Health Information Science), Grace Mickelson, (Provincial Health Services Authority), Pat Atherton (InspireNet Manager), and Helen Novak-Laucher, Daniel Hooker, Kendall Ho (UBC eHealth Strategies Office).
From the 2011 Autumn Communiqué
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