NR 360 Unit 3 Assignment (RUA): We Can, But Dare We?
Nurses and Social Media
Chamberlain College of Nursing
NR360 Information Systems in Healthcare
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We Can, But Dare We? Nurses and Social Media
As a child that was born in the early 1990’s I can remember cellphones were used in everyday life, but everyone did not have one. My Father had a cell phone, but my mother did not have one in my early childhood. Now, it is almost ridiculous if the entire family doesn’t have a cellphone. Today, children that go to school to adult businessmen and health care workers all have cellphones to communicate instantly with each other. But what’s different from my childhood is that cellphones are significantly more advanced. In modern times, we can take pictures in 4k resolution or film an entire movie in HD with simply our cellphones! For example, cellphones can be used to take pictures of patients in the hospital despite HIPPA laws. Cellphone technology has its advantages, but it also has many disadvantages that can break the client’s right to privacy in the hospital.
HIPPA is a law that was passed in the United States that provides privacy of data and tools for security to protect medical information (Your Rights Under HIPAA, 2017). In other words, HIPPA is a federal law that provides clients rights to their health information and also sets limits on who is able to access your medical records. As a result, having a personal cellphone in the hospital setting as a nurse may introduce many unnecessary problems. For instance, many nurses today use social media such as Facebook and Instagram. Under HIPPA law, healthcare workers are not allowed to copy and retain and any identifiable patient information and this would include photos and videos. If a nurse or other healthcare worker decides to take pictures of the client without their permission, they may be violating HIPPA. Furthermore, in an article by Nettrour, Burch, and Bal it states, “consents for medical treatment and billing routinely obtained by hospitals and offices generally address the acquisition, sharing, and recording of identifiable PHI for patient; this will include clinical photographs that are used for medical treatment” (Nettrour et al., 2018). What Nettrour et al. are saying in this quote is, nurses are required to ask permission to take photos of clients, even if it’s for medical purposes.
For this RUA assignment, I decided to use the third scenario: It was very exciting to meet the lead singer of the Blue Lizards last night. Although it was a bus accident, at least I was able to capture some pictures of him and some of his Private Health Information. On my day off I decided to post some of the pictures of Jerod on my Instagram and Facebook. At the time I thought it would be a good idea because I could show my friends that I still had a good time last night despite having to work. Also, I thought it would be a big deal because I figured that most people in my contacts wouldn’t recognize him anyway. The next day when I when on Facebook and Instagram I saw a lot of photos of Jared in the hospital from other profiles and people made comments of Jared in the hospital bed. My photos of Jared went viral overnight because many people I don’t know shared these photos of Jared that I posted on my Instagram and Facebook. They commented on Facebook that they thought it was hilarious to see Jared in the hospital with injuries. I instantly felt bad about posting these photos online and allowing them to circulate on the internet. I suddenly realized that I made a mistake.
In this situation, I know that the lead singer will eventually find out and he will be very disappointed with the service he received during his hospital stay. I will analyze what should have been done during the scenario and what could be done to correct my mistake. Taking pictures of PHI and a full-face photo of Jared should never have happened in the first place. According to Netter et al., The Final Privacy Rule states, “the only absolute requirement is the removal of full-face photographs… as the final privacy rule allows photographs as long as they are deidentified” (Nettrour et al., 2018). In other words, taking a full-face photo of Jared is in violation of HIPAA and I should have known better than to take the pictures without his permission. I should have resisted temptation. Furthermore, I know that I will not be able to completely rectify the situation, but I should immediately remove the photos of the lead singer from Facebook and Instagram to help stop the redistribution of the photos. Once Jared has found out about the photos, I’m sure he will file a complaint with the hospital. At this point, I will take responsibility for taking his pictures without his permission. I would first see the charge nurse and explain to her the situation before this situation got worse. I would issue an apology to the lead singer as well, explaining that he was my idol and I forgot my nursing responsibilities. If I were to be terminated form this hospital, I would accept the consequences.
Cellphone technology has its disadvantages as exemplified in the scenario previously, and it also has other disadvantages as well in the hospital setting. Nurses and other health care workers can introduce unwanted complications and HIPAA violations by using their cellphones in the ASC (ambulatory surgery centers or same day surgery centers). In the article titled “Patients, Staff Using Cellphones in ASCs Could Cause Major Trouble”, it states that cellphones should be banned in operating rooms and other patient care areas because “if you have a cellphone in the [ASC], then you could be recording things in the preop area with other patients and hear protected health information from them” (Patients, Staff Using Cellphones in ASCs Could Cause Major Trouble, 2017). Basically, imagine if you were a patient in the hospital and you were with another patient in a room being recorded. Although you are not the focus of the cellphone video, you are still filmed, and a glimpse of your face was captured because the cameraman was careless. This would be an example of a HIPAA violation because you did not wish to be recorded. Secondly, cellphones are a disadvantage in the health care setting because they can distract you from your work. Cellphones also tempt you to take pictures of PHI and post them online. Nettrour et al. states, “it is easy to capture and share clinical photographs and x-ray images using modern smartphones” (Nettrour et al., 2018). This means that a nurse could easily use a cellphone to take pictures of medical imaging because they thought it looked interesting and decided to post it on Instagram. Due to the convivence of cellphone technology, it is hard for nurses to have self-control and focus on their job instead of playing with their phones.
Although cellphones in the health care setting have many disadvantages, cellphones have played a major role to improve communication between health care workers and clients. In a study conducted by Ishibashi, Azuma, Fujinaga, and Nishimura in Japan, they wanted to see if using video calls during telenursing with clients aged 65 and older with chronic heart failure would improve their quality of life and reduce hospitalizations (Ishibashi et al., 2019). In this study, clients can use their cell phones to communicate with their healthcare providers with video. This study was successful because using cellphones to communicate with video allowed communication with healthcare providers more convenient and personal. The clients in this study were showed to have fewer hospitalizations that year and an improved quality of life. The second reason why cellphones can be useful in the hospital setting is that it allows healthcare providers to access useful information while on the job instantly. For example, if a patient wanted to know if the meal, they are eating contains a certain substance they don’t like the nurse could simply use her cellphone to research to see what’s in the client’s food in more detail. A client could have celiac disease or may want to avoid eating gluten. In the hospital setting, a nurse could use her cellphone to do a simple google search to see if their food has gluten.
I never stopped to think about how much our cell phones could be used to greatly benefit our lives and productivity at work and cause us to get in a lot of trouble as well. I learned through the scenario that you should always think twice about using your cellphone and social media at work. HIPAA was designed to protect the client’s private health information and it is our duty as nurses to honor that law. Cellphones can be very distracting. We should be focus at work instead of taking photos to look interesting on Instagram and Facebook. I understand why it may be difficult for some nurses to focus at work because at school, sometimes I lose focus because I’m using my cellphone. Nonetheless, I must be careful when I’m a nurse to only use my cellphone when it’s necessary or when it’s beneficial to the client.
Works Cited
Ishibashi N., Azuma M., Fujinaga S., Nishimura H., “Implementation and Eicacy Assessment of a Telenursing Intervention Model for Promoting Self-monitoring of Elderly Patients with Chronic Heart Failure” (2019) Journal of Japan Academy of Nursing Science, retrieved from. https://doi-org.chamberlainuniversity.idm.oclc.org/10.5630/jans.38.219
Nettrour, J. F., Burch, M.B., Bal, B. S., “Patients, pictures, and privacy: managing clinical photographs in the smartphone era” (2018) retrieved from https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2352344118301274
Patients, Staff Using Cellphones in ASCs Could Cause Major Trouble (2017) Same-Day Surgery, 41(6), 61–63. Retrieved from https://chamberlainuniversity.idm.oclc.org/login?url=https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ccm&AN=123118033&site=eds-live&scope=site
“Your Rights Under HIPAA” (2017) retrieved from https://www.hhs.gov/hipaa/for-individuals/guidance-materials-for-consumers/index.html [Show Less]