For better or worse, social media is a huge part of our lives. And while you may long for the days when you weren’t tethered to your phone, there are some advantages to embracing the world of social media in both your professional and personal lives.
For instance, you can use social media for professional networking, for motivating yourself when you've hit a wall, and even for educating yourself in your chosen specialty. But perhaps the most important benefit of all is connecting with other people who just get it. Because sometimes, all you can do is laugh to survive (and thrive!) in the nursing world.
There are a number of medical creators on social networks. So which ones should you follow? No matter what social platform you prefer to use, we found the 30 best nursing accounts across the following 5 channels:
These influencers have some of the largest followings and are all actively sharing excellent content for nursing students, seasoned pros, and entrepreneurs alike!
The 6 Best Nursing Accounts on Facebook
1. The Inspiration Nurse
- Run By: Donna Cardillo, MA, RN, CSP, FAAN
- Handle: @DonnaCardilloRN
- Followers: 7.7K
- Website: DonnaCardillo.com
- Description: Cardillo is a nurse and keynote speaker who has won numerous awards and travels the world, offering inspiration to nurses. Sharing her clinical experience and personal life stories, she aims to help nurses "reach their full potential." Author of Falling Together: How to Find Balance, Joy, and Meaningful Change When Your Life Seems to Be Falling Apart and Your First Year as a Nurse, she serves as a mentor to aspiring nurses, new graduates, and seasoned pros navigating their nursing careers.
2. Funny Nurses
- Run By: Scrubs Magazine
- Handle: @FunnyNurses
- Followers: 1.8M
- Website: scrubsmag.com
- Description: True to its tagline, "Because sometimes, you've just gotta laugh," this page shares hilarious articles, videos, and memes to help you flex your funny bone.
3. The Gypsy Nurse
- Run By: The Gypsy Nurse Team
- Handle: @TheGypsyNurseFan
- Followers: 62K
- Website: thegypsynurse.com
- Description: Run by the popular travel nursing website of the same name, this Facebook page has become the #1 place for information, support, and advice for the travel nursing industry. Whether you're a seasoned travel nurse or thinking about making the switch, you'll find that this feed is packed to the brim with highly informative content that covers every possible topic related to travel nursing. On top of the articles they share, the Gypsy Nurse crew also makes sure to host regular Facebook Live interviews with industry experts and share the latest job postings.
4. Registered Nurse RN
- Run By: "Registered Nurse, RN"
- Handle: @RegisteredNurseRNs
- Members: 62k
- Website: RegisteredNurseRN.com
- Description: Registered Nurse RN is an account that helps both nursing students and experienced nurses expand their knowledge base. This account provides valuable nursing education from anatomy lessons to NCLEX review. If you’re a visual learner, head over to Registered Nurse RN’s YouTube channel to join the over 2.3 million subscribers engaging in educational lessons and skills demonstrations.
5. Show Me Your Stethoscope
- Run By: Show Me Your Stethoscope
- Handle: N/A
- Followers: 641K
- Website: Facebook Group, LinkedIn
- Description: Born in 2015 after a host of The View famously mocked nurse Kelly Johnson for wearing a “doctor’s stethoscope” during her Miss America pageant monologue, this group has grown as a supportive community for nurses and allied professionals to stand united. Shortly after this nursing community was formed, SMYS developed into a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization that advocates for issues impacting healthcare professionals such as safe staffing and public educational support. This private page is a great place for nurses to participate in healthcare-related conversations from staffing ratios to recommendations for stethoscopes suited for any medically credentialed ears.
6. Code Blue Memes
- Run By: “One loser ER nurse”
- Handle: N/A
- Followers: 247K
- Website: codebluememes.com
- Description: Comprised solely of nursing and healthcare-related memes, this extremely popular page has a similarly large following on Instagram. Hilarious and always on point, Code Blue Memes are a must-stop when nursing life is getting you down. On the website, you can buy funny merch like mugs, t-shirts, and candles with some of the account’s best and most-loved memes. Guaranteed to have you sharing a laugh after you forward to all your nursing/medically inclined friends.
The 6 Best Nursing Accounts on Instagram
7. Nurse Blake
- Run By: Nurse Blake, BSN, RN
- Handle: @nurse.blake
- Followers: 954K
- Website: nurseblake.com
- Description: If you're looking for nursing humor, look no further than Nurse Blake's Instagram page. He has become a "household name" within the nursing industry, known best for his satirical posts about daily life as a nurse that are simultaneously hilarious and 100% accurate. Though his account primarily focuses on light-hearted humor and satire, Nurse Blake does an excellent job of weaving in posts that address more serious topics, too -- some of the more recent ones discuss the importance of combating racism in healthcare and encouraging nurses to move beyond the "nurses eat their young" trope. Enjoy his self-made nursing memes and videos to bring some levity to your day.
8. Nurse Abnormalities
- Run By: Danielle LeVeck, DNP, ACNP/CNS
- Handle: @nurseabnormalities
- Followers: 138K
- Website: https://www.nurseabnormalities.com
- Description: LeVeck is a CVICU nurse turned NP and covers a variety of trending topics as they relate to nursing. Prior to having her son last year, she was the co-host of a popular podcast called The WoMed. LeVeck was driven to share her journey as a nurse in 2015, writing about the quirks and “abnormalities” of the healthcare world. She also gives a peek into her life working as a new mom in the ICU and navigating the challenges of being a woman in healthcare.
9. The Six Figure Travel Nurse
- Run By: Sarah Gaines, MSN, RNC-OB
- Handle: @sarah_gaines
- Followers: 60.8K
- Website: www.sarahgaines.com
- Description: Gaines is a travel nurse and started The Six Figure Travel Nurse account as a way to educate and empower nurses to “maximize their income, work less, and travel more.” She posts a lot of solid and actionable content, mostly focused on career tips and hacks, but what probably makes her account so popular are all the beautiful photos she takes during her travels. If you follow her account, you'll also be able to get all the inspirational content she shares, along with alerts for any upcoming courses she's offering on how to become a travel nurse.
10. Katie Duke
- Run By: Katie Duke, NP
- Handle: @thekatieduke
- Followers: 142K
- Website: katiedukeonline.com
- Description: As a pioneer of nurse influencers, Duke embodies the notion “nurses can do anything.” Not only is she the first nurse to create a collaborative scrub line, Duke is a podcaster, speaker, and content creator who’s been featured in Forbes and Entrepreneur. Her Instagram page advocates for nurses through a message of body positivity and self-love. On her account, you’ll get a glimpse into Duke’s life through posts about her NP career, love of travel and food, and even conversations about her own health.
11. Whole Life Nurse
- Run By: Kelsey Rowell, RN
- Handle: @wholelifenurse
- Followers: 150K
- Website: wholelifenurse.com
- Description: If your professional career is interfering with your personal life, this account is for you. Similar to a holistic career coach, Nurse Rowell is a fierce advocate for teaching advocacy to others. She provides quality content and advice for ways nurses can speak up for themselves — especially when it comes to negotiating salary. Rowell’s posts give nurses actionable tips on how to create boundaries and have healthy personal lives outside of work. She also hosts a community of nurses through her paid membership, Crafting Your Dream Career. Caution, when you visit the Whole Life Nurse page, you will leave feeling fired up!
12. She's in Scrubs
- Run By: Sarah Warren, RN
- Handle: @shesinscrubs
- Followers: 105K
- Website: www.shesinscrubs.com
- Description: Warren is a fun burst of nursing energy. Her bio states she’s “a nurse here to change the world.” She posts content about nursing and mental health, and uses her platform to give nurses a voice with her fun “Powerful Voices” IG Live series. In addition to writing posts about working as a frontline nurse, Warren strongly advocates for nurses and safe staffing ratios. She tackles trending topics in nursing, as well as what it’s like to be a millennial/Gen-Z nurse working in healthcare currently.
The 5 Best Nursing Accounts on LinkedIn
13. Bonnie Clipper
- Run By: Bonnie Clipper, DNP, MA, MBA, RN, CENP, FACHE, FAAN
- Followers: 37K
- Website: innovationadvantage.com
- Description: Clipper is a top nurse influencer on LinkedIn because of her experience as a healthcare executive, thought leader, coach, and speaker. With her extensive background in hospital leadership and advising health tech startups, she is on a mission to improve the future of nursing and achieve clinical excellence. As a published author, Clipper educates readers about emerging technologies impacting nursing on her blog.
14. Dan Weberg
- Run By: Dan Weberg, PhD, RN
- Followers: 24K
- Website: drnursedan.com
- Description: Dr. Dan Weberg is the vice president of Ascension, an organization focused on transforming healthcare through technology and innovation. As the former head of clinical innovation at Trusted Health, Dan hosts the Handoff podcast, where he talks about trends impacting the medical industry. He offers his own words of wisdom and support, as well as posts of his podcast episodes, featuring other nursing and healthcare influencers. In addition to following his thought leadership on LinkedIn, you can find Dr. Dan at speaking engagements around the world.
15. Nicole Thomas
- Run By: Dr. Nicole Thomas, DNP, RN, CCM
- Followers: 3.8K
- Website: impactnurseconsulting.com
- Description: Thomas is the founder of Impact Nurse Consulting, a nurse-led consulting group that provides innovative healthcare solutions to improve patient care. As a nurse leader, Thomas uses her platform to advocate for nurses and encourage individuals to “go deeper” into their nursing roles. Her thought leadership helps nurses feel supported and inspired through emphasis on innovation, diversity, equity, and inclusion.
16. Renee Thompson - The Workplace Bullying Expert
- Run By: Renee Thompson, DNP, RN
- Followers: 14K
- Website: healthyworkforceinstitute.com
- Description: Thompson is the CEO and founder of the Healthy Workforce Institute and works with organizations to eradicate bullying and incivility in healthcare work environments. Her posts focus on sharing practical information that aims to educate both nurses and nurse leaders about workplace bullying, as well as ways to prevent it and establish more supportive work environments. She also shares content from other nursing influencers and industry news.
17. Lippincott NursingCenter.com
- Run By: Lippincott NursingCenter Team
- Followers: 65K
- Website: nursingcenter.com
- Description: This is the LinkedIn account for the popular nursing publication NursingCenter. This page, which was created by nurses, shares everything from firsthand nursing stories and CE updates to important industry news that affect all nursing specialties.
The 7 Best Nursing Accounts on Pinterest
18. Nurse Nacole
- Run By: Nacole Riccaboni, MSN, MBA, APRN
- Handle: @coronarykid
- Followers: 15K
- Monthly Viewers: 37K
- Website: nursenacole.com
- Bio: N/A
- Description: Riccaboni has already established a reputation for herself as one of the most prolific and popular nursing bloggers around. Now she’s becoming one of the most well-known nursing influencers around too. Though she runs a number of channels on other social media platforms, her Pinterest account is truly one to behold. Here, you’ll be able to find helpful and informative resources for almost any topic you want to know about. Whether you’re looking for technical expertise, book reviews, career advice, or sweet deals on gear and apparel, you’ll find everything you could ever possibly need right on her Pinterest page.
19. The Nerdy Nurse
- Run By: Brittney Wilson, BSN, RN
- Handle: @thenerdynurse
- Followers: 88K
- Monthly Viewers: 1.1M
- Website: thenerdynurse.com
- Bio: "Patient, Nurse, and Technology Advocate. Blogger at https://TheNerdyNurse.com. Find pins for nurses, nursing students, nerds, and more!"
- Description: Wilson is the founder of the Nerdy Nurse blog and uses her Pinterest page as another channel to share all the information any nurse could ever want. Her posts cover a healthy mix of highly professional and "nerdy" topics (e.g., technical nursing issues, career advice, healthcare/nursing/health tech trends), as well as fun, light-hearted topics too (e.g., nursing products/apparel, personal branding, social media tips, lifestyle). The audience is varied and includes nurses, nursing students, physicians, healthcare professionals, and the general public.
20. Mother Nurse Love
- Run By: Sarah, RN
- Handle: @mothernurselove
- Followers: 5.1K
- Monthly Viewers: 188K
- Website: mothernurselove.com
- Bio: "Create your best nurse mom life! Nurse self care & burnout advice, motherhood tips and tricks, working mom life balance and how to start a nurse blog."
- Description: If you’re a mom and a nurse, this account is for you. Sarah's goal (both for her blog and social accounts) is to help other nurse moms make life easier for themselves. So, she shares a lot of content that focuses on topics like nurses' health, managing nurse burnout, work-life balance, being a working mom, breastfeeding during 12-hour shifts, and money goals. Her boards are jam-packed with quick and dirty tips, hacks, and nursing product recommendations to help you thrive as a nurse and working parent.
21. Nurse Jamie
- Run By: "Nurse Jamie"
- Handle: @NurseJamieLA
- Followers: 26K
- Monthly Viewers: 31K
- Website: nursejamie.com
- Bio: "Celebrity Skin Expert • Registered Nurse • Founder of Nurse Jamie Skin Care • Owner of Beauty Park Spa • Beauty Diva on ExtraTV • Mother of Triplets"
- Description: "Nurse Jamie" is a celebrity skin care expert and beauty spa owner. Her page features tons of content on skin care regimens, as well as tips and tricks for keeping your epithelial cells healthy and happy. She also regularly pins things like celebrities trying out her beauty products, including Lisa Rinna and Ashley Tisdale.
22. Nursing SOS | Nursing School Study Tips + Motivation
- Run By: Christina Rafano, RN
- Handle: @nursingsos
- Followers: 68K
- Monthly Viewers: 1.2M
- Website: nursingschoolofsuccess.com
- Bio: "I help whole-hearted RN students get better grades and succeed in nursing school."
- Description: Rafano's goal is to help nursing students succeed in nursing school, so she shares a ton of educational content geared toward helping them study for and ace their exams. In addition to offering a free resource library, she pins things like how to study for online classes and motivation for managing your study time.
23. Scrubs Magazine
- Run By: Scrubs Magazine Editorial Team
- Handle: @scrubsmagazine
- Followers: 42K
- Monthly Viewers: 1.1M
- Website: scrubsmag.com
- Bio: "Scrubs is the one and only site that’s 100% about nurses and the specific joys and challenges you face because of the noble career you chose."
- Description: Similar to the show (yet no affiliation), this account is throwing down nurse style, laughs, and plenty of scrub style inspiration. They have pins that link back to blog posts on their website, as well as scrubs “flatlays” to help you feel your most stylish at work.
24. Kati Kleber
- Run By: Kati Kleber, MSN, RN, CCRN-K
- Handle: @Fresh_RN
- Followers: 19K
- Monthly Viewers: 185K
- Website: www.freshrn.com
- Bio: “Educating new nurses with humor, clinical knowledge, and warmth to enable them to sustainably care for both their patients and themselves.”
- Description: Kleber is an author, nurse, educator, and host of the FreshRN podcast. She regularly posts about educational topics and career advice, along with posts showing cute pics and videos from her life. Hosting masterclasses on a range of topics, related to many different specialties in nursing. With an audience of nursing students, new nurses and experienced RNs, Kleber posts content related to all aspects of the job.
The 6 Best Nursing Accounts on Twitter
25. AllNurses.com
- Run By: AllNurses.com Team
- Handle: @allnurses
- Followers: 21.7K
- Website: allnurses.com
- Bio: "Nursing Community with millions of nurses networking with other nurses each month."
- Description: You're probably very familiar with the AllNurses.com website, which offers tons of forums and informative content that's created by nurses, for nurses. This is their official Twitter account and is dedicated to highlighting all of the most popular content that's published by their community. Followers love the account because they can easily see what kinds of topics are being discussed in the AllNurses forums on a daily basis and even join in on the conversations if they feel like it. The feed also posts important news updates for RNs and NPs, hosts user questions and feedback, and even gives job postings.
26. Patrick McMurray
- Run By: Patrick McMurray, BSN, RN
- Handle: @NursePatMacRN
- Followers: 9.9K
- Website: patmacrn.com
- Bio: "Nurse/Infirmier. NC. Bibliophile. ADN + MSN-Ed. Nurse Scientist in the works. Citizen Scientist. 1 Part of @dnrnursing”
- Description: We’re guessing McMurray was voted “best all-around” in high school. He uses his Twitter platform to talk about everything from plants and scholarly research to science and best books. McMurray seems to know a little bit about everything. But don’t get it twisted: he strongly advocates for nurses on every level, letting it be known that all nurses — LPNs to those with advanced nursing degrees — are an important part of the health system and nursing ecosystem. He uses his platform to educate and challenge anyone who says differently.
27. Monica McLemore
- Run By: Monica McLemore, PhD, MPH, RN, FAAN
- Handle: @mclemoremr
- Followers: 33.6K
- Website: profiles.ucsf.edu/monica.mclemore
- Bio: “Badass thinker, RN, scientist-geek, ReproJustice & Tweets mine; GenX she/her @uwson @actionsprogram @cerish_ucsf @blkmamasmatter @healthequityjrl @birthequity”
- Description: McLemore is an associate professor in the Family Health Care Nursing Department and an affiliated scientist with Advancing New Standards in Reproductive Health at the University of California, San Francisco. In addition to maintaining clinical practice at Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital, she also conducts regular research focused on understanding reproductive health, rights, and justice. McLemore’s work on initiatives such as the Black Mamas Matter Alliance is advancing the dire and important cause of addressing the unacceptably high rates of maternal morbidity of black women.
28. Dr. Anna Maria Valdez
- Run By: Dr. Anna Maria Valdez, PhD, RN, CEN, CNE, CFRN, FAEN, FAADN
- Handle: @drannamvaldez
- Followers: 11.6K
- Website: N/A
- Bio: “Nurse, professor, scholar, editor. #Antiracist #Abolitionist #DecolonizeNursing #HumanRights #DisabledNurse #Lupus She/Her/Ella Views are mine, only”
- Description: Valdez is an outspoken nursing professor with a passion for equality in healthcare. She is affiliated with Nursology, an organization for contemporary nurse scholars that promotes forward-thinking nursing education. On her Twitter page, Valdez discusses topics impacting the state of healthcare like the COVID-19 pandemic, nursing innovation, and nursing education, as well as her ongoing struggle with lupus.
29. Andrew Lopez, RN
- Run By: Andrew Lopez, RN
- Handle: @nursefriendly
- Followers: 14.6K
- Website: nursingentrepreneurs.com
- Bio: "Registered Nurse, Nurse Entrepreneur, Social Media Consultant, #NursesTakeDC Supporter, #Healthcare #Tweetchat #Enthusiast, Ask us :)"
- Description: Lopez is a social media consultant out of New Jersey. He uses his Twitter account primarily to share news about current events and the latest nursing industry trends, as well as reshare content from other nursing influencers.
30. Nurse Savage
- Run By: Brenna Savage, MSN, RN, CNL, CCRN
- Handle: @OnlyintheICU
- Followers: 17.4K
- Bio: "ADN - CCRN - MSN/CNL - Nursing Instructor #OneSentenceShift #OnlyintheICU #TVmedicalWTF #HospitalGhostStories #TweetRN #PMA (she/her)"
- Description: This nurse tweets about all things healthcare, and isn't afraid to share her real, honest-to-goodness opinions about what's going on. Her posts mostly focus on her experiences working day and night shifts in the ICU, but she's also no stranger to voicing her opinions on current political events too. She also retweets articles and threads from other reputable healthcare influencer accounts.
Social Media Guidelines for Nurses: 10 Tips to Keep in Mind
While social media is commonplace in everyday life these days, it’s worth remembering that anything online is part of the public domain. Because of this, posting anything on social media about either your personal and/or professional lifes does carry some inherent risk -- and that's especially true if you work in healthcare. We know that you know about the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), and we know that you know that violating HIPAA has serious repercussions, not the least of which is losing your job or paying hefty fines (up to $500,000 per violation). But what some may not know is that, in some severe cases, violating HIPAA could also involve serious jail time too.
Bottom line: Even if you are not in influencer marketing, as a medical professional who uses social media, you have to commit to keeping your posts professional. Posting anything about your job can make you a health content creator. So, whether you’re interested in growing your business's social presence or simply interacting with others, just be sure to keep these official tips from the American Nurses Association in mind:
- Never share any information that could identify a patient, coworker, or patient’s family member.
- Do not share any information or photos that have resulted from the patient-nurse relationship.
- Avoid blurring professional boundaries by “friending” or otherwise engaging with patients online.
- Don’t use employer networks to access social media.
- Make it a rule not to post anything you wouldn’t say in person to your boss, coworkers, or patients.
- Know and abide by your individual place of employment’s social media policies.
- Try not to identify your place of employment online.
- Do not make negative remarks about any patient, coworker, or family member online.
- Consider using all available privacy filters for your own content to be shared with friends, to avoid the potential for misuse.
- Use common sense and keep it professional.
Want to learn more? Here are all the HIPAA details all healthcare professionals need to know.
Updated by Alexa Davidson on December 2, 2021.
Originally written on July 10, 2019, by Chaunie Brusie.
Image courtesy of iStock.com/nortonrsx