My name is Victoria Crews and I am currently a graduate student at Rutgers University Camden
pursuing my NJ School Nursing Certificate. One of my assignments this semester was to
interview a school nurse that uses Twitter in her professional practice. My new Twitter friend
that I had the privilege to meet is Eileen Gavin. Eileen has been a nurse for 36 years, with a
background in ER nursing, an NP in family practice, and she has been a school nurse for many
years. She currently serves a high school in Middletown Twp, NJ. My question for Eileen was,
“How has Twitter changed your school nursing practice?” Eileen had a lot to say about this
question.
Eileen first became aware of Twitter as a tool when she was serving as a mentor for the
Johnson & Johnson School Health Leadership Program, mentoring other school nurse fellows.
She is the one who introduced our own Robin Cogan to Twitter, who is now affectionately
known as the School Nurse Twitter Queen. Eileen has found that Twitter, as well as other social
media, can be a powerful professional tool. Eileen generally uses Twitter only in a professional
sense, using other forms of social media in her personal life. There is one notable exception to
her guideline that she shared with me in order to demonstrate the power of this venue. Once
when traveling, she experienced a two day delay on a vacation to Hawaii that began with a crew
not being available for her flight. Upon returning, Eileen began the process of trying to gain
some recompense for some of her lost vacation. Going through the usual channels, ie customer
service, got her nowhere. So then she Tweeted her dissatisfaction. Almost immediately
someone got back to her. People and companies pay attention to social media.
Eileen told me that she uses Twitter in many ways in the course of her school nursing practice.
One of the uses is that she follows colleagues from all over the country to see what they are
currently doing in their practice. She has met and formed relationships and alliances through
Twitter. She connects with nurses and other professionals that have similar interests and
passions. Eileen and I share a passion for the mental health of our school students. As I go into
the future in my own practice, I will be connecting with Eileen in this area and others for support
and guidance. Eileen also follows organizations, like our own organization, NASN, as well as others such as the American Academy of Pediatrics. She follows the current research this way. The CDC also Tweets out a monthly digest for various laws that are changing that she finds helpful and she uses Twitter to collect data from these, as well as other organizations.
Following current legislation both in NJ and other states is important to Eileen. Recent legislation in NY that removed the religious exemption for immunizations is one example of pressing policy issues. NJ is looking at similar legislation. Eileen is currently the co-chair on legislation for NJSSNA, so she is always interested in what other states have been able to do to advance the cause of school health and connects via Twitter with other professionals in different states and even all over the world. Eileen also keeps NJ nurse up to date on current legislation and ways in which school nurses can participate in the legislative process. She also finds webinars and classes on Twitter for her own professional development.