WEBVTT

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♪ [music] ♪

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- [voice over] Emily was a nursing student
in a pediatric rotation. She cared for

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Tommy, a five-year old patient who was
recently diagnosed with type one diabetes.

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Tommy was going home soon so she took a
cellphone picture of him to remember him

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by. That evening, she posted his picture
on her Facebook page commenting how brave

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he was when he got his insulin injections.
Two days later, Emily was called into her

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dean's office. A nurse from the hospital
had seen the photo and caption and

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reported them to hospital officials. Emily
was informed that her actions were a

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breach of her patient's confidentiality
and a violation of federal privacy laws.

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Even though Emily had an excellent record
as a student nurse, and had only had the

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best intentions in her post, she was
expelled from her nursing program and the

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program has barred from using the
pediatrics unit for their students.

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- Hi. I'm Kelly, a staff nurse here at the
hospital. If you use social media

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properly, what happened to Emily will
never happen to you. Nurses are

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increasingly utilizing social media not
only for personal use but also as a way to

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foster professional connections and timely
communications with patients and their

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families. But social media used
inappropriately can result in disclosing

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too much patient information and violating
their rights to privacy and

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confidentiality of information. This is
what happened to Emily. Healthcare

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organizations typically have clear
policies governing employee use of

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electronic and social in the workplace. It
is out side the workplace however, where

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policies are often less clear and the
potential for inappropriate use of social

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media is greatly increased. Effective
nurse-patient relationships are built on

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trust. A cornerstone of that trust is
patient privacy. Which is a key part of a

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patient's expectation to being treated
with dignity and respect. Any patient

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information that a nurse has access to
during the course of treatment must be

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safeguarded. With very limited exceptions,
such information may only be disclosed to

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other members of the healthcare team for
the purpose of providing care for the

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patient.
Improper use of social media by nurses may

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violate state and federal laws. Including
the health insurance portability and

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accountability act or HIPA. Which was
enacted to further protect the patient

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privacy. Additionally, inappropriate uses
of electronic and social media maybe

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reported to the Board of Nursing resulting
in possible disciplinary action for

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unprofessional or unethical conduct,
breach of confidentiality, or other

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infractions. Well, it's true that some
intentional or malicious misuses of

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social media do occur, the majority of
inappropriate disclosures or postings are

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unintentional. Usually they're the result
of the mistaken belief that the

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communication or posting is private and
accessible only by the intended recipient.

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That content deleted from the site is no
longer accessible, for that it is

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acceptable to discuss or refer to a
patient in a posting if they're not

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identified by name. By being cautious and
alert to potential or improper uses of

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social media, you can avoid inadvertantly
disclosing confidential information

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concerning your patients. Remember, you
have an ethical and legal obligation to

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maintain patient privacy at all times. This
means that you should never take photos or

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videos of patients using your cellphones
or other personal devices. Be sure to

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follow employer policies for taking photos
or videos of patients for treatments or

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other permissible purposes by using an
employer provided devices. Even

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experienced nurses should be vigilant
about avoiding serious violations of

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patient confidentiality as Jason learned.

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- [voice over] Jason has been a nurse for
12 years and is working in hospice care.

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One of his current patients, Maria,
maintains a hospital sponsored online page

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to keep her family and friends updated on
her battle of cancer. One day, she posted

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something about her depression and the
difficulty of finding effective treatments

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for her physical pain. Jason saw the post
and responded by writing a comment to

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Maria. He wrote that he understood her
last few days have been difficult and he

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was hopeful that the new medication along
with the increase dose of morphine will

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provide some needed relief. The next day,
Jason ran into a friend who said she saw

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his post. She said Maria was an old family
friend, was sad to hear of her condition

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and asked Jason how long he thought Maria
had left. Now, fully realizing the

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implications on what he had done,
immediately went home and tried to remove

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his post but was unable to do so. Besides,
even if he had been successful in

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removing it. It may have already been
copied by others and posted elsewhere. At

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his next visit with Maria, Jason told her
what had happened and apologized. Jason

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then self-reported his breach of patient
confidentiality to his Board of Nursing

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and is awaiting the board's decision
concerning any disciplinary action.

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- Jason learned the importance of
carefully considering the full

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implications of posting any information
about patients on any website, including

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hospital sponsored sites. It may at times
be appropriate for nurses to express

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empathy and support for patients on a
website but they must be careful not to

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disclose private patient information.
Inappropriate use of social media can

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derail someone's dream to be a nurse as it
did for Emily.

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But even for experienced nurses like
Jason, who have exceptional work

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histories, inappropriate use of social
media can and does happen. Remember,

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increased access to communication through
social media does not change the

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healthcare professional's responsibility
to protect patient information. In fact it

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actually makes it easier to
inappropriately share information. By

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carefully following standardized
guidelines, healthcare professionals can

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responsibly use social media to improve
the coordination of patient care. For more

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information, please visit the website of
the National Council of State Boards of

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Nursing.

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♪ [music] ♪