We Can, But Dare We?

It is no secret as to how fast social media has grown over the past decade between helping connect with long lost friends and family on Facebook, getting your resume out to others through LinkedIn, sharing a video on YouTube, or even just letting off some steam on Twitter, hard to believe that so much of this we see in our day to day lives can be creating such a controversy within the Health Care System. Most of these sites listed are made into little convenient applications on majority of the populations smart phones that can be helpful as well as distracting (Gill, Kamath, & Gill, 2012).

While advancements in technology have positively impacted the nursing field, it has also created huge concerns with patient privacy and sharing of protected health information leading to detrimental effects to patients and their families. Indeed, technology is changing the face of healthcare with positive innovations to reduce medication errors and documentation errors. However, technology at our fingertips has created immense concerns with sharing of protected health information of patients via social media, email and other means of communication via technology. This paper addresses why I feel the advancement of technology has numerous deficits that need more research and implementation of new laws and policies to safeguard the

Communication has been permanently changed by social media. A wide conceptual definition of social media, as cited in Ressler & Glazer (2010), is “The online and mobile accessible services that enable individuals to connect, collaborate, and share with others in real time.” Social media has an obvious influence on informal communication style and represents both possibility and liability for healthcare institutions. As cited in Bernhardt, Alber, & Gold (2014), “Social media provide healthcare professionals with tools to share information, to debate health care policy and practice issues, to promote health behaviors, to engage with the public, and to educate and interact with patients, caregivers, students, and colleagues.” It also presents challenges, including risks to information accuracy, organizational reputation, and individual privacy. Social media can be a very helpful in communicating among nurses and other healthcare providers while creating professional connections, and sharing experiences, but guidelines for appropriate use by healthcare providers are essential. Whether or not certain healthcare organization decides to use social media as a communications tool - social media policy still need to be implemented. Policies help establish an organization 's rules and expectations around social media.

“Facebook remains the most popular platform for those using just one social media site—fully 79% of those who use just one site report using Facebook. Most Facebook users are actively engaging with their networks on the site. As opposed to simply reading or viewing content, 65% of Facebook users frequently or sometimes share, post or comment on Facebook” (Duggan, Ellison, Lampe, et al, 2015). As discussed previously, privacy and confidentiality is a right that everyone has no matter what. Therefore, healthcare professional’s privacy and communication cannot be entered and examined however; rules and guidelines have been put into place to manage confidentiality in the healthcare setting. In 2003, these guidelines were manifested and are known as the Privacy Rules, which are controlled by HIPAA. These rules were established to safeguard personal identifiable health data, which include an individual’s date of birth, social security number, address, photographs that may identify the patient, and past and current medical history (U.S Department of Health and Human Services, 2006). HIPAA defines “individually identifiable health information” as information that is a subdivision of health data, including demographic information gathered from an individual and is generated or received by a health care provider, health plan, employer, or health care clearinghouse and connects to the previous, current or future physical or

In the world today, smartphones are becoming the “norm”, with basic phones becoming nearly obsolete in recent years. Pairing the overwhelming presence of social media with the rise in usage of smartphones brings to light an entirely new set of problems and challenges regarding patient privacy. According to a 2010 study conducted regarding various boards of nursing, 67% of executive officers surveyed reported receiving complaints about nurses misusing social media (Spector & Kappel,

Social websites such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and the use of smartphones have quickly integrated themselves into our everyday lifestyle. With the constant advancement of technology, it is no surprise that this trend has affected not only the personal lives of user 's but also their work environment as well. It is important that future healthcare workers understand the many rewards and challenges technology can bring to the workplace.

Social media has taken over the way that we interact with one another. It is leading the way in which we communicate with family, friends, coworkers and strangers. It is also the way we keep up with our favorite celebrities and gossip. Social media and the use of smartphones are becoming more prevalent in business and the healthcare field as well. According to Pew Research Center, “62% of smartphone owners have used their phone in the past year to look up information about a health condition” (April, 2015). Technology, just like all things come with flaws

In the present culture of the United States, social media has had a major impact in American society. It has a profound influence and intertwined itself in almost every aspect of the average American’s life. It ranges from providing updates of location of a person(s), events, and sharing personal moments. Even different industries are utilizing social media as a platform for communication, information, and sales mediums. One industry, the health care field has seen a rise in the utilization of social media. For instance, an emerging population of physicians are using social media apps such as Snap Chat, Facebook, and YouTube to educate, display surgical, and medical procedures while being performed. In contrast, as there are positive aspects of utilizing social media, a negative trait of social media is invading and exposing individual’s privacy. As of recent, a New York licensed nurse had to surrender her nursing license and sentenced to 3 years of probation for “moral unfitness in the practice (Bowerman, 2016).” She took photos with her phone of two unconscious male patient’s genitalia and shared them with coworkers. This has become an increasing issue and as the utilization of social media in healthcare is increasing, many ethical issues are developing. For instance, the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) was passed for the adoption of a national standard for electronic health care transactions and code sets, unique health identifiers,

Employees within healthcare and anyone who has been a mature patient in recent years have been duly informed of the Health Insurance Privacy and Portability Act (HIPPA), but even more people are more intimately familiar with the social networking site Facebook. Prior to researching the legal and ethical boundaries at it pertains to patient confidentiality in nursing school, many of us thought little of the HIPPA concept and how it applies to each of us as individuals. We can announce to the world on Facebook that I have a lump, please go get a mammogram! We can whine on for ages about our children’s medical problems. We make announcements and call for prayers for our spouses and parents who are ill. We share with our friends and family,

While using social media can be valuable to doctors and nurses, inappropriate use of these tools can be devastating to a health professional career. Here are some examples

Another drawback of smartphone and social media use in healthcare is the negative repercussions of breach of patient confidentiality. To follow with HIPAA Privacy Rule, clinical vignettes posted via web-based media concerning patients must have all individual perceiving information and any uncovering references removed. This “de-identification” should be possible by changing or disposing of key patient components (e.g., names, insurance or Social Security numbers, date of birth, and photos), by keeping up a vital separation from the portrayal of uncommon therapeutic issues, and by excluding specific time ranges or territories without the patient's consent. In any case, there have been numerous coincidental breaches of HIPAA Privacy Rule involving online networking. A study of medical blogs composed by HCPs found that individual patients were portrayed in 42% of the 271 samples studied. These samples, 17% were found to sufficiently incorporate data for patients to distinguish themselves or their providers, and three included conspicuous photos of the patients (Ventola,

Nancy Spector, whom holds a PhD, RN titles from the University of Wisconsin, distinguishes that most patient privacy violations are due to nurses not taking the time to think before posting and inadvertently putting the patient’s info out for persons not admitted to see it. Spector states “The quick and efficient technology enabling use of social media reduces not only the time it takes to post, but also the time to consider whether the post is appropriate and what ramifications may come from posting inappropriate content.” Nurses should be able to use social media to help further their relationships with patients and co-workers, with the healthy understanding of how to do so wisely.

Nurses never know what their day is going to consist of, from the number of patients, to the amount of medication being administered. Nursing is a critical thinking career that uses rules and regulation to keep it well organized, safe, and in order. Use of technology in healthcare has taken root, and this has its benefits and disadvantages. Smartphones and other similar gadgets have become so common in the society and healthcare is not an exception. Use of these gadgets by healthcare personnel especially nurses has key legal and ethical issues that need careful evaluation. From the scenario, the use of smartphones has several implications on the performance of the nurse who is also on a night shift. The ending of the scenario entails representing the previous experience to social media and posting of photos that compromise the privacy of the patient. In this discussion, the ending of the scenario is discussed based on moral and ethical issues of the case study.

For helping professionals who are considering using Facebook, a host of ethical concerns about boundaries, dual relationships, confidentiality, and privacy arise (Corey & Corey, 2016). According to standard 5 in the Ethical Standards of Human Service Professionals, human service professionals recognize that multiple relationships may increase the risk of harm to or exploitation of clients and may impair their professional judgment (“Ethical Standards,” 2016). When it is not feasible to avoid dual or multiple relationships, human service professionals should consider whether the professional relationship should be avoided or curtailed (“Ethical Standards,” 2016). One solution would be to create a professional Facebook account and have one for personal use which is kept as private (Corey & Corey, 2016). As human service professionals we need to keep the separation of our personal lives and our professional lives in tact. The best way to do this is to keep personal content private, include clear and thorough social networking policies as part of the informed consent process, and regularly update protective settings because Facebook is constantly changing (Corey & Corey, 2016). Keeping the social network policies as a part of the informed consent can also save any future issues for the client. Clients postings on social networking sites may lead to

At the same time, health care organizations find challenges in adopting social media. Hospital and medical practices are risk adverse and generally cautious about new technology trends without clear value. There are questions about whether social media use by hospital employees is a waste of time, or even worse, presents risks of violating HIPAA or leaking proprietary information. Hospital IT departments are concerned about security risks, such as the use of tinyurl.com, which can mask malicious Web sites. Privacy concerns, particularly the vulnerability of social media accounts, are also cited as a reason to avoid social media. (John Sharp 2010).