Nurses have a Code of Ethics that includes safeguards of the patient’s right to privacy and the duty to maintain confidentiality of all patient information. (Westrick, pp. 16-17)
The nursing Code of Ethics,as of 2015, explicitly mention social media and emphasizes the nurse’s duty to maintain vigilance in postings, images, recordings, or commentary that intentionally or unintentionally breach the duty to maintain privacy and confidentiality (Westrick, pp. 16-17)
This presentation reviews guidelines on the use of social media in nursing.
Social media are "electronic tools that enhance communication, support collaboration, and enable users across the globe to generate and share content" (Henderson, p. 62)
Different popular types of social media include social network sites, blogs, online chat rooms,
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This is still a breach of confidentiality. (Alaskan Nurse, p. 15)
That it is acceptable to discuss or refer to patients if they are not identified by name, but referred to by a nickname, room number, diagnosis or condition. This too is a breach of confidentiality and demonstrates disrespect for patient privacy. (Alaskan Nurse, p. 15)
Social Media has tremendous potential for strengthening personal relationships and providing information to health care consumers, as well as affording nurses a valuable opportunity to interact with colleagues around the world. (Alaskan Nurse, p. 15)
Nurses need to be aware of potential consequences of disclosing patient-related information and be mindful of employer policies, relevant sate and federal laws, and professional standards regarding patient privacy and confidentiality. (Alaskan Nurse, p. 15)
Social media used carefully and correctly can afford nurses personal and professional benefits without violating patient privacy and confidentiality or by causing any employer or co-worker
. Describe the growth and developmental tasks that were displayed by the child you interacted with in this setting (Erikson, Piaget and Freud). Were these tasks age appropriate? Did you assess any developmental challenges in the client that you interacted with? How were they dealt with (by you and by the health care team)?
The State of Connecticut Board of Nursing does not have a position statement regarding the use of social media. The use of social media by nurses has steadily increased, and the clarity between what is personal information and what is work-related information has become more unclear. The American Nurses Association has made recommendations for the use of social media by nurses. The guidelines focus on the nurse legal and ethical obligation to protect the patient’s privacy (Spector & Kappel, 2012). With the increased use of technology and our dependence on the digital communications and involvement with social media there are greater threats for patient privacy violations.
Healthcare providers and organizations are obligated and bound to protect patient confidentiality by laws and regulations. Patient information may only be disclosed to those directly involved in the patient’s care or those the patient identifies as able to receive the information. The HIPAA Act of 1996 is the federal law mandating healthcare organizations and clinicians to safeguard patient’s medical information. This law corresponds with the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act to include security standards for protecting electronic health information. The healthcare organization is legally responsible for establishing procedures to prevent data
Nurses and doctors take the oath to protect the privacy and the confidentiality of patients. Patients and their medical conditions should not be discussed with anyone who is not treating the patient. Electronic health records are held to the same standards as nurses in that information is to be kept between, and shared only with the immediate care team. HIPAA violations are not taken lightly nor are the violation fines cheap. Depending on the violation, a hospital can be fined from $100 to $50,000 per violation (National Nurse 2011 p 23).
This is called protected health information or PHI. Information meets the definition of PHI if, even without the patient’s name, if you look at certain information and you can tell who the person is then it is PHI. The PHI can relate to past, present or future physical or mental health of the individual. PHI describes a disease, diagnosis, procedure, prognosis, or condition of the individual and can exist in any medium files, voice mail, email, fax, or verbal communications. defines information as protected health information if it contains the following information about the patient, the patient’s household members, or the patient’s employers, Names, Dates relating to a patient, i.e. birth dates, dates of medical treatment, admission and discharge dates, and dates of death, Telephone numbers, addresses (including city, county, or zip code) fax numbers and other contact information, Social Security numbers, Medical records numbers, Photographs, Finger and voice prints, Any other unique identifying
Principles for Social Networking and the Nurse: Guidance for the Registered Nurse, released in 2011 by the American Nurses Association (ANA), states that “nurses must observe ethically prescribed professional patient-nurse boundaries.” I agree with you, that your friend could have avoided the situation if
Also discussed are the positive and negative influences that social media has on healthcare organizations and consumers and how the role of the nurse informaticist relates to this. Research Methods Abortion
The technological advancements have not only helped nurses to be better informed, but have also helped the clients to be better informed. Informed patients and families can help the nurses and HCPs by speaking up about symptoms they have noticed that the health care team may have been unable to witness or may have look past. Technology being available to everyone is mostly a good luxury, at the same time, many people can be misinformed and cause more trouble demanding treatments or care that are unsuitable for them because they read about it online. 3.
The nurses and faculty that violate the privacy rule will face severe consequences such as civil and criminal penalties. For example, when violations occur, $100 to $25,000 per year will need to be paid off depending on the situation. Not only that, but going to prison can also be added depending on what and how the information was released (Wimberley et al., 2005, 489). Taking the time to correctly deliver the process of not releasing confidential information is needed, so there wouldn’t be any consequences or violations to the privacy
If nurses make mistakes, they have to admit it. In addition, Nurses have an ethical responsibility to keep their patients ' medical record confidentiality. Nurses shouldn 't release this confidential data to other persons. Furthermore, Nurses need to be trusted with a great deal of high profile information. A patient counts on a nurse 's professionalism and integrity to keep their medical information confidential.
If we as nurses respect the confidentiality of a patient, we should do so for all the patients. However, Griffith (2007) argues that the duty of confidence should not be absolute and nurses should always consider sharing information if required. Though the principle of respecting patient autonomy and their right to confidentiality is broken here, the principle of beneficence and non-maleficence is uphold. Nurses have an obligation to protect patient’s confidentiality but the duty to warn an innocent party of imminent harm is far more critical. Therefore, breaking confidentiality here is potentially doing more good than
This, in turn, lead to the incidental disclosure of Joseph Stevens’ health information. To help prevent this mistake in the future, Sue and the compliance officer should work together to institute training that educates employees on incidental disclosure and how to minimize the occurrence. Another aspect of this mistake, is that Sue did nothing to dissuade the nurse from continuing the discussion in front of the patient and in a public space. Sue should have invited the nurse to come to her office
The study does not state a clear research question, however, it states the aim of the research from which the PICo format can be applied. The aim of this research study is to look at the uptake patterns of social media in Australian and New Zealand graduate nurses and midwives. It looks at what understanding the new graduates have of policies and standards that govern the use of social media within the nursing and midwifery profession. Through this statement is can be identified that the population (P) is Australian and New Zealand nursing and midwifery graduates. The phenomenon of interest (I) is the uptake patterns of social media and awareness of policies and/or professional standards governing the use of social media.
The internet has helped families across the globe interact and communicate Social media has been used in many ways in the twenty-first century. Many ways have been beneficial. Some research supports social media as an effective tool for nursing students to develop their knowledge in a clinical setting (Green & Hope, 2010). Students have an endless amount of resources on the internet to help guide their knowledge and shape their minds. Although, social media is not without its consequences.
Cases of health care providers posting work-related photos on social media, Googling patients and tweeting political or personal opinions are associated with ethical and legal issues that nurses must consider (Gagnon & Sabus, 2015). Regardless