We Can Do It, But Dare We
The emergence of a wide range of Web 2.0 technologies and platforms, including social media networking sites, has resulted in increased application of the internet in the creation and sharing of content. Smartphone applications and social media platforms are also used by health care professionals (Gagnon & Sabus, 2015). However, the relationship between a health care practitioner and a patient is founded on the ethical principles of confidentiality and privacy. Because of this, the use of smartphones and social networking sites by health care professionals raised ethical and legal issues and dilemmas that are related to the personal and professional boundaries and the trustworthiness, accountability and integrity of the health care provider (Moses, Chaitt & Jones, 2014). 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
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This is because health care professionals are more likely to share personal data and images about patients on social media without consent when they have ready access to smartphone applications and social media platforms. This means that health care professionals may cause offense to their patients because of social media, which is against the ethical principle of non-maleficence (Gagnon & Sabus, 2015). Ethical issues in the use of social media and smartphones are mainly associated with health care practice because of the high level of sensitivity of medical or clinical information. This is unlike organizations in other industries, such as marketing, which share personal information without alarming consequences on privacy and
Privacy is of the utmost importance within a medical practice, ethically a patient’s privacy is very important as a medical record contains information regarding a patient’s health. According to
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.
Ever since the Tuskegee Syphilis Experiment and other similar experiments that include human subjects, the issues on patient privacy and informed consent were the central issues, which led to the three basic ethical principles as outlined in the Belmont Report. According to the report, the principles of respect of person, beneficence, and justice are the general judgement we apply as justification for ethical prescriptions and evaluations of human actions.1 Therefore, all students, researches, or healthcare professionals have to abide by these principles even though it is a difficult issue within healthcare informatics. The issue of confidentiality is very problematic indeed, especially when it relates to race/ethnicity.
Confidentiality and data breaches are a few of the main concerns, as many providers become neglectful when sharing patient electronic health information. Current use of Electronic Health Records (EHR) has proven to be helpful for hospitals and independent medical practice to provide efficient care for patients. Balestra reports that using computers to maintain patient health records and care reduces errors, and advances in health information technology are saving lives and reducing cost (Balestra, 2017). As technology advances EHR are going to continue to be the main method of record keeping among medical providers. Therefore, staff and medical providers need to be trained on how to properly share patients EHR safely and in a secure form in order to maintain patient confidentiality.
These individuals feel that having clients on their social media is not an issue. Others strongly believe that what you post directly reflects onto your profession and so you should be keeping your social media either very private or posting only professional and appropriate content. Those who feel this way often believe that posting photos that involve drinking makes the dental hygiene profession look poorly. It would come across as unprofessional and send the message to current as well as prospective patients they may have on their social media, that those who are working at that clinic are irresponsible. My opinion closely relates to the latter as a I believe that if I saw my hygienist posting something inappropriate on social media, I would change my opinion on the whole
Maintaining a professional boundary in nursing can be difficult at times. With the use of social media one can easily cross the nurse-patient boundary. I’m sure the father was going through a very difficult time and was reaching out to someone he trusted. According the National Council of State Boards of Nursing (2014), “nurses can unintentionally blur the lines between their professional and personal lives” through social media (p.4).
On any given shift, nurses have access to some of the most personal private information about a patient and his or her family. A right to privacy is grounded in the society and is protected by the United States Constitution. In addition, the American Nurses Association (ANA) Codes for Nurses prohibits disclosure of confidential patient information, as do the ethical codes of many other professional organizations (Malek, 2010). The Joint Commission mandates that institutions maintain and adhere to policies and standards to protect patient information. According to Malek (2010), nurses must remember that a right to privacy protects more than the patient’s medical record; it protects them from unauthorized photographs and news stories, as well
Healthcare institutions, organizations, and consumers in today’s healthcare environment can utilize social media to their advantage to provide and seek education, services available, and information related to healthcare. Conversely, social media is able to negatively perpetuate harassment and trolling. While collecting tweets there were also several disturbing images attached to the tweets. Social media can negatively influence healthcare institutions, organizations, and consumers in today’s healthcare environment by providing false information, manipulation, and
Everyone should be careful when working in the health field because HIPAA is a big rule for the privacy of information of the patients and the work place. Text messaging, pictures, and the use of social media contributes a lot to the HIPAA violation, and you should use with caution before posting anything online or sending anything to someone else. There are lots of penalties
Communication Privacy Management Theory previously known as Boundary Management Theory is a relatively new communication based research method. Founded by Sandra Petronio in 1991, CPM has been used to investigate privacy management in family communication, online social media, and health communication (Petronio, 2013). This paper will summarize the key principles related to CPM and how this theory can be used for real-world applications. In addition, it will discuss the advantages and disadvantages of CPM theory. The first principle of CPM theory is privacy ownership which can be defined as people are the sole owners of their private information.
Are your medical records really safe? More people than one would ever image has access to your personal medical record. Insurance companies, the government especially if you receive local, state or federal assistance. Employers and researchers can have access to your health records. If you are involved in a court case, your health records can be subpoenaed and available to the public.
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
Jennifer Golbeck: The Curly fry conundrum: Why social media “likes” say more than you might think? Summary Computer scientist Jennifer Golbeck explains how likes and shares can guess about random facts and information from you. On how some applications of the technology are not so user- friendly and why she thinks we should return the control of information to its rightful owners.
Throughout the past ten years, social media has increasingly become a phenomenon all over the world. In the United States alone, 81% of the population owns some sort of social media account (“Percentage of U.S. population”). With this increasing number, social media has reached an extremely large audience in which resulted in a melting pot of diverse discussions on daily topics. Due to this enormous audience, one must be quite cautious about what they share online. These platforms have become a useful tool that may result in real-life consequences if used in an inefficient way.
The world as we know it today is dynamic in nature, and technological advancements and the use of social media has facilitated the re-shaping of the way the society deals with things. In other words, we now thrive in a connected world. Social media such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, LinkedIn, and Snap-chat practically drive everything in our society, and the usage continues to grow. For instance, employers now look to get some insight on candidates they are trying to recruit by viewing their social media pages. Because the world is so connected in terms of communication, and the availability of information at our fingertips, many issues have surrounded employers’ use of information posted by job applicants on their social networking sites as the basis for hiring or hiring them.