Technological innovations over the past years have played a significant role in social life. The ease of accessibility to computers, smartphones, and tablets among other gadgets has made communication easy. Particularly, social media platforms and smartphones have changed the dynamics of communications across many industries. The health care industry is not an exception. With social media becoming an integral part of health care organizations’ marketing and communication strategies, over 99% of health care centers in the U.S. have increased their social media presence through active pages on platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. In addition, smartphones have been used to enhance patient care. However, both social media and smartphones must be properly utilized, for organizations to reap the benefits. Besides, there are legal principles that govern the use of social media and smartphones in the health care industry. The aim of the paper is to provide an ending explanation in a scenario of an improper use of a cell phone by a nurse at the hospital, advantages and disadvantages of social media and smartphones, and how they can be used in accordance to HIPAA regulations to enhance patient engagement.
HIPAA Regulatory Requirements
Based on the scenario provided, the privacy and safety of the patient has been jeopardized by the nurse’s unwise use of social media and smartphones. The nurse compromises the nursing professional standards and ethics as well as breaks the regulatory requirements of HIPAA. Designed in 1996, the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability (HIPAA), is responsible for protection of patient information, privacy, integrity, and confidentiality from access by the public (McNett, 2020). There are regulations on how health care professionals can share information within and outside the work environment. In regards to social media, HIPAA prohibits the sharing of protected health information across any network (Edemekong & Haydel, 2019). This is inclusive of any text, image or video about the patient that could result in their identification.
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Protected health information can only be shared on social media platforms if the patient has given consent in written form. In this case scenario, for instance, the nurse abuses the HIPAA privacy regulation by taking pictures of the critically injured patient, recording and storing the private health information in her phone. The nurse’s carelessness is also revealed through the way she handles her phone yet it contains stored information regarding the patient. From a legal standpoint, the implication is violating HIPAA rights of the patient to privacy.
Scenario Ending
This paper will base the ending of the scenario on the second topic. The scenario arises from the sharing information with an outsider who does not work for the hospital. The media already has private information regarding the popular patient who was attended to at the health care center. Consequently, this action massively breached the regulations of HIPAA and patient’s privacy.
The best recommendation for this situation is that the nurse should not have used her smartphone to take medical picture and store them in her phone. Such an action is against the code of ethics that guides the profession of nursing. Besides, the information is prone to leaking through loss of the smartphone or access by non-employees of the organization. Also, once information is posted on social media platforms, it is no longer private and confidential. I would also recommend that the nurse out rightly rejects the financial allurement from the media. The offer could be tempting because of the pending bills and the need to buy a new car. However, a nurse should always uphold the professional code of ethics and values. To counter the challenge of the money inducement, the nurse should inform the media that based on the nursing code of ethics, it is illegal to release confidential information about patients that have been treated at the facility. Information can only be released to media under a written consent.
Such acts of violating HIPAA are worth fines. I would recommend that after a thorough investigation, nurse should also face disciplinary action for deliberate access to private health information and sharing to the public through social media. One disciplinary action I would propose is that the nurse faces the Board of Nursing. The health care center should also offer mandatory training to its staff and general employees. For the prevention of violation of HIPAA regulations in the future, internal employees’ training should be done to better educate the health care providers (Bittner et al, 2019). Every health care professional is required to observe the ethical guidelines which includes protecting patient’s privacy. Had the patient signed a form of consent, the case would have been totally different.
Advantages of Social Media and Smartphones in the Healthcare Industry
Admittedly, the use of social media and smartphones in the health care industry could compromise the privacy and confidentiality of the patient. However, it should be noted that there are numerous health care benefits organizations can reap from the use of social media. As long as health care providers do not compromise on the standards, social media can be a platform of engagement and communication to the patients. The use of social media and smartphones has changed communication in health care. Their use has facilitated sharing of relevant information across the world under different health care settings. Social media has created a platform for sharing information on health, reach out to the public, and promote health care. Through apps, health care workers can look up patients’ chats in different units.
Another advantage of using social media is that it helps educate the public on any new developments. For instance, in the current pandemic of COVID-19, social media platforms have been in continuous use to update the public on the important measures to take to stop the spread of the disease (Carisio, 2020). In other instances, social media has been used as a tool of communication between nurses and their patients to educate them. Social media has made it easy to access health care information and other resources deemed necessary.
Social media also is a tool for clinical education to professionals in the health care industry. In Australia, for instance, registered nurses are supposed to continually gain points to retain their registration (Hao & Gao, 2017). Social media has been helpful among nurse who work in rural areas because they are able to counter the distance and maintain their registration up to date.
Disadvantages of using Smartphones and Social Media in Health Care
Although there are numerous benefits of using social media to obtain useful information, it should be noted that there are disadvantages as well. The violation of privacy of a patient is one of the most significant downturns of social media (Hao & Gao, 2017). This can either be intentional or inadvertent depending on how it takes place. Some of the ways through which nurses breach privacy of the patient’s information is through the sharing of photos or videos on social media platforms without the consent of the patient. Others make bad commentaries about the patient which degrades them yet HIPAA provides for the accordance of dignity to patients. Such inappropriate actions risk the damage of the nurses’ reputation. In addition, nurses are likely to face consequences including job termination.
Smartphones and social media use also continuously disrupt health care professionals particularly during their work time. A recent study reveals that nurses’ environment is full of distractions particularly by social media (Hao & Gao, 2017). Modern technology such as smartphones has also been regarded as a potential factor for distractions. Mostly, distractions are in form of interruptions while providing care to patients. Nurses who are distracted by social media and smartphone messages may cause errors while delivering patient care. Medical errors have been leading in causes of patient’s deaths in the U.S.
In conclusion, social media and smartphones has enhanced the flow of information among patients and health professionals alike. This has changed the way of communication and engagement between patients and doctors in the health care industry. When wisely utilized, the health care industry can reap obvious benefits which include clinical education, promotion of the health of the patient, and professional networking. Healthcare providers should be aware of the regulations and legal requirements from bodies such as HIPAA. This will help nurses know their limitations and avoid unwise use of social media. Furthermore, the improper use of social media and smartphones has legal implications such as violating patient’s confidentiality and privacy. This could sequentially lead to formidable consequences such as termination of jobs, law suits or penalties. From the scenario discussed earlier, it is evident that while using social media, health professionals should be keen not breach the HIPAA regulations.
References
Bittner, J. G., Logghe, H. J., Kane, E. D., Goldberg, R. F., Alseidi, A., Aggarwal, R., & Jacob, B. P. (2019). A Society of Gastrointestinal and Endoscopic Surgeons (SAGES) statement on closed social media (Facebook®) groups for clinical education and consultation: issues of informed consent, patient privacy, and surgeon protection. Surgical endoscopy , 33 (1), 1-7.
Carisio, F. G. C. (2020). COVID-19: Italian Army Chief Infected. Whole Italy in Quarantine. UPDATE .
Edemekong, P. F., & Haydel, M. J. (2019). Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA). In StatPearls [Internet] . StatPearls Publishing.
Hao, J., & Gao, B. (2017). Advantages and disadvantages for nurses of using social media. of , 3 , 2.
McNett, M. (2020). Protecting the data: Security and privacy. In Data for Nurses (pp. 87-99). Academic Press.
