Ethical Issues Of Social Media And Nursing

Ethical Issues of Social Media and Nursing
I read a very interesting article about Managing the Ethical Issues of Social Media and Nursing. Social Media is used in organizations all over the country to promote their services, their physicians, job openings, education and much more. Patients use social media to search for medical information and support; they search for information about their treatments, medications and diagnosis. Patients and families use social media to post experiences they have had at healthcare facilities. Nurses use social media to make connections with other nurses and healthcare providers as it is a beneficial way to exchange information and resources. The National Labor Relations Board indicates workers have a right …show more content…
Nurses need to clearly understand HIPPA and how to avoid breaches of patient confidentiality or privacy via social media. They can be intentional or inadvertent and can occur in a variety of ways such as comments in which patients are described with sufficient detail to be identified, referring to patients in a degrading or demeaning manner, or posting videos or photos of patients are examples of ways patients’ privacy and confidentiality are violated. Here are a few of the general principles suggested that nurses follow to navigate safely when using social media do not use individual identifiable patient formation ,understand that patients, co-workers, employers may view postings, nurses should bring content that could harm a patients privacy, rights or welfare to the attention of the authorities as they have an ethical obligation to report, comply with employer policies, don’t take photos or videos of patients on personal devices including cell