Professionalism and Social Media
Social media use in the nursing profession is guided by a set of professional standards and boundaries. Nursing staff, especially nursing students, must clearly distinguish between personal and professional social media use and maintain professionalism.
Inappropriate social media use and breaching social media use professional standards may have legal consequences for the nurse and healthcare institution (Daigle, 2020). This essay presents a review of my social media sites, based on professional nursing standards, and the impact of my social media use on my career and the reputation of the nursing field.
Some of the posts and conversations I have engaged in using my social media platforms that might be considered inappropriate based on the professional standards of nursing include posting my picture captured in my nursing uniform, whereby the patient is visible and can be recognized.
Lefebvre et al. (2020) show that sharing recognizable patient information on social media breaches patient confidentiality and privacy and can violate personal or professional boundaries. It is, therefore, not acceptable and should be avoided.
Every nurse must uphold a standard that is consistent with the nursing professional standards at work and in their personal lives since the profession is noble and requires respect. Mistakes such as inappropriate social media use may tarnish the profession’s name and institution and have legal and ethical consequences. Professional nursing standards also ensure proficiency and safety in practice.
Poorchangizi et al. (2019) note that professional standards and values promote and direct practice, thus maintaining competent nursing practice. A good example is the maintenance of patient confidentiality, a requirement of the nurses’ professional standards. Professional standards also guide nurses’ conduct and avoid violations and unethical and unprofessional practices. For instance, they prevent nurses from sharing patient information with unauthorized persons, thus violating HIPAA privacy safeguards.
The areas of my social media activity that reflect Christian values relating to respect for human values and dignity for all people include my conversations, online groups I participate in, and posts. I ensure that I do not participate in conversations that may demean people or show disrespect. I also refrain from participating in online groups and conversations that disrespect individuals, which may mean disrespect to my profession. Additionally, I ensure my posts demonstrate respect for all individuals by maintaining a dignified and compassionate language.
However, some areas of my social media activity require improvement to ensure I maintain safe social media use and maintain professional and ethical standards. Among them is minimizing communication with patients using open-access social media platforms. Using open-access social media platforms while communicating with individual patients may mean privacy and confidentiality violations, which may negatively impact careers and affect the patient and the institution.
I am also working on avoiding sharing pictures that include recognizable patients or patient information and making examples using identifiable patient information in my online conversations. More so, I am working on maintaining professionalism in my online conversations. Thus, I will be able to avoid legal problems and career hindrances caused by inappropriate social media use.
To sum up, nurses’ personal and professional social media activity may affect the nursing profession. Different healthcare institutions have developed social media policies that align with the nursing professional standards to ensure that their staff maintain safe social media practices, thus maintaining patient safety and privacy and avoiding related legal implications. Social media activity should reflect professionalism and Christian values regarding respect and dignity for all individuals.
References
Daigle, A. (2020). Social media and professional boundaries in undergraduate nursing students. Journal of Professional Nursing, 36(2), 20-23. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.profnurs.2019.08.007
Lefebvre, C., McKinney, K., Glass, C., Cline, D., Franasiak, R., Husain, I., Manoj, P., April, R., McLean, A., & Stopyra, J. (2020). Social Media Usage Among Nurses. JONA: The Journal of Nursing Administration, 50(3), 135–141. https://doi.org/10.1097/nna.0000000000000857
Poorchangizi, B., Borhani, F., Abbaszadeh, A., Mirzaee, M., & Farokhzadian, J. (2019). The importance of professional values from nursing students’ perspective. BMC Nursing, 18(1), 1-7. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12912-019-0351-1
Professionalism and Social Media
Social media plays a significant role in the lives of nurses in both their professional and personal lives. Additionally, social media is now considered a mainstream part of the process for recruiting and hiring candidates. Inappropriate or unethical conduct on social media can create legal problems for nurses as well as the field of nursing. Login to all social media sites in which you engage. Review your profile, pictures and posts. Based on the professional standards of nursing, identify items that would be considered unprofessional and potentially detrimental to your career and that negatively impact the reputation of the nursing field. In 500-750 words, summarize the findings of your review. Include the following: 1. Describe the posts or conversations in which you have engaged that might be considered inappropriate based on the professional standards of nursing. 2. Discuss why nurses have a responsibility to uphold a standard of conduct consistent with the standards governing the profession of nursing at work and in their personal lives. Include discussion of how personal conduct can violate HIPAA or be considered unethical or unprofessional. Provide an example of each to support your answer. 3. Based on the analysis of your social media, discuss what areas of your social media activity reflect Christian values as they relate to respecting human value and dignity for all individuals. Describe areas of your social media activity that could be improved. Prepare this assignment according to the guidelines found in the APA Style Guide, located in the Student Success Center. An abstract is not required.