Integrity, as well as ethics, serve as vital values in not only the medical profession but also nursing practice. In particular, the relationship between individual health care providers or practitioners (HCPs) and their patients requires a great deal of confidentiality and privacy. Although smartphones and associated social media platforms play a central role in the provision of important tools necessary for improving health care services offered to clients, they come with the additional burden, especially when not used or handled the much-needed or appropriate manner. In response, this study employs a comprehensive approach to analyzing a scenario involving a night shift nurse, who neglects a variety of rules and principles by using his Smartphone amidst a busy and risky task of attending to one of the casualties in the facility’s emergency room.
The investigation will comprise four-five major sections: elaboration of the application of social media, as well as smartphones in relation to different HIPAA rules, regulations, legal perspectives, and work ethics. The second section examines the chosen scenario ending, then proceeds to give a number of recommendations on the best possible actions to help in the mitigation of the identified problems. The study’s third part identifies the various advantages, as well as disadvantages of using smartphones and social media in healthcare settings. The fourth section describes ethical and professional principles, which govern the use of social media and mobile phones by nurses. The investigation concludes by presenting a number of lessons learned from the scenario.
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HIPAA, Regulatory, and Legal Discussion
The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) not only acknowledges but also appreciate the significant role played by smartphones and social media in healthcare. However, the HIPAA requires nurses to utilize these technologies for purposes of relevant information only. In other words, the Act allows HCPs to use their smartphones and social networking sites as one of the ways of improving the access of the much-needed Electronic Health Register (EHR). RNs can utilize the gadgets to accept patient and related medical information through IBlueButto, remind individual patients of upcoming appointments, and ensure effective communication among all the responsible stakeholders ( Hoffman & Rose, 2014 ). Despite this acknowledgement, nurses should ensure that their mobile applications provide not only diagnostic tools but also have secure access to emails and texting. These security features allow the party involved to undertake remote wiping when the device gets lost. In this scenario, for instance, the nurse acted negligently since another HCP could still see the various photos he took. HIPAA demands practitioners to disable or secure their smartphones while at work or in any given hospital settings.
In case a need compels nurses to take photos of their patients, they must ensure that the facility and their devices have ample security to ensure the safety of protected health information (PHI). They must not add the photos and associated information to the records without ascertaining the reliability of security measures. The HIPAA requirement further applies to text by nurses, as it prohibits any HCP from using their smartphones to text while at work. They can only communicate by sending a text after establishing security tasked with the responsibility of safeguarding sent and received texts.
HIPAA requires HCPs to avoid placing the PHI on their personal social media accounts or smartphones. In essence, special circumstances must be in place for that to take place, including assured security for accessing the information. In other words, an HCP has an ethical and professional obligation to secure and protect their clients’ privacy at all times, whether offline or online. In this scenario, it is evident that the nurse failed a great deal to align his actions with HIPAA requirements by sharing the client’s PHI online friends. Concisely, his decision to take the famous patient’s photos violated Jerod’s rights, as well as the already established HIPAA standards.
In addition, the HITECH Omnibus Rule expects HCPs and other responsible stakeholders in healthcare settings to seek patients’ consent before using or sharing any of their PHI. In this sense, the use of social media, as well as smartphones should be regulated and guided by top management. In essence, managers should prioritize the creation of proper and change-driven procedures aimed at controlling smartphone and social media usage. In this context, for instance, the nurse compromised the patient’s data, which has the potential of destroying the therapeutic relationship between clients and HCPs in the facility. A single breach by the nurse rendered the PHI insecure in addition to making it open to theft and landing in wrong hands, people with ulterior motives, such as the Gossip Gazette.
Chosen Scenario Ending and Recommendations
The ending I have chosen for the scenario involves a situation in which the nurse logs in his Facebook account, talks about the previous night, including getting Jerod’s number, and posting the musician’s picture online. The ending in questions has a broad range of implications for the prevailing scenario. First, the HCP accessed and used the patient’s confidential information without seeking his consent. In this way, the nurse has not only neglected the various HIPAA regulations but also failed to follow hospital work and associated nursing ethics ( Hao & Gao, 2017 ). Violating HIPAA standards on patient privacy and professional ethics often attract different forms of penalties, including serving a jail term, fines, revocation of registration, suspension or permanent ban from the nursing profession, and loss of employment with the facility.
The HCP’s decision to act negligently presented his contacts to misuse the shared PHI, meaning that the health facility is more likely to face legal action from the patient, which, in turn, might have a crippling financial impact on its operations. Given the damage caused, the nurse will also be investigated for unprofessional and unethical conduct, moral turpitude, and breach of confidentiality or mismanagement of patient data. The presence of the information in public will also have far-reaching negative effects on the hospital reputation regarding professionalism (Ventola, 2014). As a result, the facility is more likely to lose clients due to a lack of trust.
Recommendations
The problems which resulted from the scenario could be prevented through the adoption of result-driven strategies. First, the nurse should have aligned his communication with the already established HIPAA regulations, which require HCPs to either disable their smartphones or use them to facilitate the sharing of health information and associated communication only. Second, the nurse should have observed his ethical responsibility to the patient; protecting their PHI ( Gill, Kamath, & Gill, 2012) . At the same time, the HCP should have separated his social life from professional duties, meaning the friend would not have disrupted him.
Besides the identified actions in response to issues caused by the scenario, similar incidences and cases can be avoided in the future by engaging HCPs in decision making, especially when it comes to making policies on the use of technology. Through appropriate regulations and training, nurses would understand when, where, and how to use patient information without necessarily breaching their rights. In this way, facility management should focus on educating all employees on the strengths and disadvantages of relying on social media and smartphones.
Disadvantages and disadvantages
Advantages . Social media and smartphones play a pivotal role in benefiting the healthcare system in different ways. In particular, they provide individual practitioners with a broad range of applications, which, in turn, facilitate sharing of health information, communicating with other stakeholders, and including the public, debating health care issues. On the same note, social media serves as a useful collaboration tool since it presents individual HCPs with the best possible opportunity to dialogue not only with their colleagues but also remain relevant in the face of rapidly changing nature of healthcare developments ( Hao & Gao, 2017 ). For instance, the use of social media, as well as smartphones connect HCPs in advanced locations and third-world countries, meaning they can utilize the Internet to stream the various medical and surgical procedures at the comfort of their health facilities. In other words, new technologies in the form of smartphones and social media allow nurses to actively participate in constructive online forums with the sole purpose of discussing health issues and associated topics.
Another benefit of social media revolves around its role as a tool utilized in the provision of clinical education to HCPs. In essence, smartphones come in handy when HCPs need media with efficient communication abilities. The various social media networking sites, which practitioners can access from their phones create a medium through which they can receive professional training. A typical example involves the Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia (NMBA), which requires registered nurses (RNs) to acquire a total of 20 continuous points annually ( Hao & Gao, 2017 ). In this case, RNs in rural health facilities can rely on social media and associated websites with the sole purpose of accessing and undertaking online courses to gain each of the professional development points. Nurses also use their social media platforms to offer patients healthcare education. The fact that most patients from across the globe have smartphones, and have since signed up for Facebook, Twitter, and other social media accounts, they can easily connect with their HCPs, who often share healthcare information, as well as other useful medical resources. In the identified and briefly described ways, the gadgets and platforms play a fundamental role in streamlining operations, reducing existing and potential overhead costs, and enhancing information sharing.
Disadvantages . Despite their distinct advantages, smartphones and social media are no exception when it comes to shortcomings. Recent research has so far established that a major disadvantage of social media application in health care is lack of reliability, as well as low quality of health information published and shared online ( Spector & Kappel, 2012 ). Given some authors of online contents are anonymous, the information presented tend to remain unreliable and informal, as they fail to reference the sources. Another significant disadvantage of social media and smartphones involves violation of patient confidentiality and privacy in healthcare and other social settings (Denecke et al., 2015). Typically, the breach can assume two forms: intentional and inadvertent. For instance, some nurses can violate a patient’s rights by making degrading comments about their health condition or expose their private or personal details.
Another negative effect associated with the use of smartphones and social media is interruptions, as well as distractions during the HCPs’ working hours. Typically, nurses operate in one of the complicated and multifaceted atmospheres, which remain characterized by a great deal of vulnerability. Empirical studies have revealed that modern technologies, including mobile phones, play a leading role in causing distractions among RNs, especially when they are tasked with the responsibility of providing emergency and any form of care ( Spector & Kappel, 2012 ). As a result, nurses, who get interrupted by smartphones and social networking messages tend to cause errors in medication, administration, and even severe damages to their patients. Concisely, pervasive use of social media and smartphones have far-reaching negative effects on health outcomes.
Ethical and Professional Principles
The use of social media and smartphones in health care settings remained governed by a wide range of ethical, as well as professional principles. The establishment of these principles revolves around the fact that misusing social media results in a variety of professional, legal, and ethical issues. The first professional principle for social networking is that nurses must not use their mobile phones to place online any given individually identifiable information about the patient. In this way, they not only observe their ethical responsibilities and professional policies on protecting patient privacy both offline and online (Denecke et al., 2015). Second, individual RNs who often interact with their clients online must place great emphasis on observing ethically prescribed and established nurse-patient professional boundaries. Third, nurses must prioritize the evaluation of any contents that they post online since some postings might have a far-reaching impact on nursing practice, patient, and health facility.
Another professional principle requires nurses to consider taking advantage of the various privacy settings on their social media platforms and smartphones. On the same note, they should ensure that their professional sites remain separated from online personal accounts. Equally important, nurses serve as the patient’s advocate, meaning that have the much-needed ethical obligation to undertake quick and appropriate action aimed at addressing instances or incidences characterized by questionable use of social media and smartphones. For instance, a nurse who learns of an inappropriate content shared by another HCP should either notify the colleague of the breach or report the issue to facility management for correction measures ( Ventola, 2014) . Accordingly, nurses using their social media must place much emphasis on accountability and maintaining their clients’ privacy, as well as confidentiality.
Conclusion
Conclusively, I have learned that technology is growing fast in both the social and professional domain. In particular, HCPs appreciate technology, meaning the nursing profession and associated practices are no exception for technological change. Technology has made it easier for documenting health care reports and contributes to effective patient interactions in the healthcare system. However, misusing technology, especially smartphones and social media endangers the underlying professional and ethical dimensions of nursing practice. One of the significant issues includes breaching of patient confidentiality and privacy. Ultimately, there is a need for developing strategies that will guide nurses on when and how to take use social media and smartphones. The policies must also give guidance on who, when, and where to share the acquired patient information.
References
Denecke, K., et al. (2015). Ethical issues of social media usage in healthcare. IMIA Yearbook of Medical Informatics , 137-147.
Hao, J. & Gao, B. (2017). Advantages and disadvantages for nurses of using social media. Journal of Primary Health Care and General Practice, 1 (1).
Hoffman, J. & Rose, A. (2014). Laws and regulations governing the disclosure of health information (2014 update) . Retrieved from http://bok.ahima.org/doc?oid=300245#.XIoeLiIzbcs
Spector, N. & Kappel, D. (2012). Guidelines for Using Electronic and Social Media: The Regulatory Perspective. OJIN: The Online Journal of Issues in Nursing , 17 (3).
Ventola, C. (2014). Social Media and Health Care Professionals: Benefits, Risks, and Best Practices. Pharmacy and Therapeutics , 39 (7), 491–520.
Gill, P., Kamath, A., & Gill, T. (2012). Distraction: an assessment of smartphone usage in health care work settings. Risk Management and Healthcare Policy , 5 , 105–114
