One of the most significant innovations of the 21 st century is social media. It is an online community platform that can be assessed using computers and smartphones. Although it has primarily been a blessing in terms of bringing people together and for marketing reasons, it can be problematic especially when used in health institutions to reveal inappropriate information and also in the corporate and learning institutions as a determinant of admission. It, therefore, warrants one to assess the sensitive nature of social media and how it interplays with ethics and legal frameworks of the healthcare and other industries. More so, the discussion will focus on the relationship between accreditation decisions, reimbursement, quality of care, informatics
Part 1
Hospital Policy on Social Media and Smartphone Use
In the age of technology and innovation, hospitals have increasingly shown awareness regarding their staff's use of smartphones and exposure to social media. Although the Information Technology (IT) department in the hospitals can block access to social media sites from the work computers, the use of smartphones continues to provide leverage for workers to access various sites including Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube among others. It is in this regard that hospitals have endeavored to develop several policies that manage the use of social media and smartphones in the workplace. However, as the policy developer, several aspects should be taken into consideration to ensure that the policy serves its purpose well. First, when developing the policy privacy and confidentiality guidelines must be included in a bid to comply with the Health Information Portability and Accountability Act (HIPPA).
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Secondly, the policy should include ramifications and implications that come with inappropriate social media activity. For instance, using social media to breach the confidentiality rights of the patient could lead up to fines worth $50,000 according to the HIPAA laws (Chretien & Kind, 2013). Also, the hospitals must address how it intends to punish any social media behavior that goes against the outlined laws. However, it remains critical to note that social media remains an essential tool for marketing an institution such as a hospital. Therefore, the policy must designate particular times or sessions where employees can post material, tweet, and retweet on various platforms. The policy must also address the nature of the blogs and posts taken to the social media platforms. For instance, a hospital can decide to assert that all its posts will be factual and accurate.
Potential Ethical and Legal Liabilities
The case described involves two corpsmen at the Naval Hospital Jacksonville who mishandled newborn babies and posts their images on social media. According to the reports revealed by the hospital, the two staff members acted unprofessionally and as such, needed to face the justice system for appropriate action. Ethically, the hospital will be viewed as an entity that does not respect human dignity given that photos of vulnerable newborns being inappropriately handled have surfaced online. As such, this could effectively tarnish the hospital's reputation. Since the autonomy of the patients was not sought in posting the pictures, the hospital will be legally liable in accordance with the HIPAA regulations. As such, the hospitals can be fined up to $1,500,000 for breaching privacy laws on filming and taking photos (Antheunis, Tates, & Nieboer, 2013).
On the part of their health workers, they have acted unprofessional and against the code of ethics of medical practitioners. The ethical principle of non-maleficence comes to questions given that one of the employees goes ahead to move the newborn to the beats of rap music. Also, they have acted in a manner that does not inspire virtue ethics including dignity, respect, and care among others (Blais et al., 2006). Legally, other than losing their practicing licenses, the two can face exorbitant fines due to their actions in violating the HIPPA regulations on privacy and confidentiality.
Part 2
Right To Access Social Media Posts
A recent study conducted by the CareerBuilder survey showed that approximately 70% of employers perform a social media screening before hiring an individual (Davison et al., 2016). The study further sought to assess the type and nature of the information that these individuals seek from social media sites. Some of the information sought includes any that boosts their qualifications, professional online persona, what bother individuals are posting about them, any other relevant information that would warrant their decision not to employ the candidate. However, the trend does not stop on employers or potential employers. It also extends to colleges which became apparent when Harvard University was compelled to rescind the admission of 10 students after reviewing their social media posts. However, I feel this is a misuse of power and most fundamentally a tenet that goes against the provisions of the First Amendment which guarantees any citizen the right to expression. Each citizen has a right to expression either verbally or via symbols so long as their communication does not result in national disunity.
Other than going against the law, it is unethical tendency to snoop at one's social media posts as it is a breach of privacy. In any case, an employer or a college wants to access information on a particular individual; they should be able to ask for permission. However, the nature of social media does not guarantee privacy because posts are there for public viewing. However, from a moral point of view, it is unnecessary to evaluate an individual based on their social media activity since it might not reflect their true persona. Therefore, employers and universities should not make decisions to employ or admit respectively based on social media. However, this does not mean that individuals have in the recent past demonstrated inappropriate behavior that can significantly impact their admissibility in jobs or learning institutions. For instance, the Harvard University case of rescinded the admission of 10 students was based on obscene posts on social media. With the freedom that comes with social media platforms, individuals are prone to posting racial slurs, violent scenes, obscenity, and in some instances negative information about a particular brand (Davison et al., 2016).
However, using such information to make decisions on employment or admission can be wrong. An individual might have posted unnecessary remarks but eventually regretted their actions without necessarily deleting them. In some instances, it can be due to peer pressure or teenage ignorance. Also, the fact that an individual has made a strong opinion that contradicts that of the prospective school or working environment does not necessarily mean that they are unfit for a particular position. Therefore, employers and higher education institutions should refrain from stocking and snooping potential candidates for their social media behavior because it is unethical and above all, an unnecessary breach of personal information. Individuals should exclusively be judged on merit, and any misbehavior will be judged by the moral codes installed by a particular institution.
Part 3
The Relationship between Accreditation Decisions, Reimbursement, Quality of Care, Informatics
Accreditation is defined as a process where the assessment of an organization happens based on various pre-determined standards. Accreditation has a close relationship with quality. Quality, on the other hand, is described as "the degree to which health services for individuals and populations increase the likelihood of desired health outcomes" (Almoajel, 2012). Therefore, many hospitals rely on quality indicators in a bid to improve quality of care. The emergence of international health care accreditation programs emerged in the 1970s. In various parts of the globe, accreditation has been employed as an essential tenet in quality improvement activities. Therefore, this establishes a strong relationship between accreditation and the quality of care. For instance, one of the accreditation models used globally is known as the ISO Certification. For example, ISO 90001 accreditation is common in hospitals and comes as a result of an institution meeting several quality health management criteria stipulated by the accreditation body. Therefore, it would be significant to conclude that all accreditation decisions depend on the quality of care that a hospital provides in its various ranks and departments.
Health reimbursement refers to the payment that the diagnostic facility, hospital, or the doctor receives after giving a particular medical service. The government payer or the insurer covers part or all of the costs of the healthcare received by an individual. Reimbursement and quality of care can also be closely associated. Although most reimbursements are done on the basis of quantity, quality of care also forms a critical tenet that determines the reimbursement. According to the United States Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), 30% of the Medicare reimbursements will be linked to the value or quality of the provider's services (From quantity to quality: Meeting the new demands of value-based care, 2015). On a broader perspective, it means that accredited institutions are better placed to receive reimbursement more than the non-accredited ones. Lastly, healthcare informatics in healthcare is an area of specialization that deals with communications and information technology in a bid to improve patient care. Health informatics enhances the quality of care through various ways such as the maintenance of electronic patient records and reducing medical errors that cost the health department huge sums of money (Blais et al., 2006). Hospitals which leverage health informatics receive international ISO accreditation to demonstrate their immense quality. Lastly, it is only through proper documentation of health informatics that health institutions will receive the reimbursements according to the services provided.
Conclusion
In conclusion, it remains fundamental for hospitals and other care facilities to show awareness of ethical and legal provisions regarding the use of smartphones and social media in the workplace. Social media has also in the past been used to disqualify college candidates and potential employees based on their previous posts. However, I feel that this goes against the First Amendment provisions and individual privacy rights. Lastly, accreditation decisions, reimbursement, quality of care, informatics demonstrate an interrelation web where each entity depends on the other.
References
Almoajel, A. M. (2012). Relationship between accreditation and quality indicators in hospital care: a review of the literature. World Appl Sci J, 17, 598-606.
Antheunis, M. L., Tates, K., & Nieboer, T. E. (2013). Patients’ and health professionals’ use of social media in health care: motives, barriers and expectations. Patient Education and Counseling, 92(3), 426-431.
Blais, K., Hayes, J. S., Kozier, B., & Erb, G. L. (2006). Professional nursing practice: Concepts and perspectives. Pearson/Prentice Hall.
Chretien, K. C., & Kind, T. (2013). Social media and clinical care: ethical, professional, and social implications. Circulation , 127(13), 1413-1421.
Davison, H. K., Bing, M. N., Kluemper, D. H., & Roth, P. L. (2016). Social media as a personnel selection and hiring resource: Reservations and recommendations. In Social media in employee selection and recruitment (pp. 15-42). Springer, Cham.
From quantity to quality: Meeting the new demands of value-based care, 2015. http://www.medicaleconomics.com/health-law-policy/quantity-quality-meeting-new-demands-value-based-care
