Confidentiality In Nursing Case Study

In America, in 1893, Mrs. Lystra E. Gretter composed an adaption of the Hippocratic Oath for nurses naming it the Nightingale Pledge. Part of this pledge reads:

I will do all in my power to maintain and elevate the standard of my profession, and will hold in confidence all personal matters committed to my keeping and all family affairs coming to my knowledge in the practice of my calling. (Florence Nightingale Pledge, 2012)

Although the times have changed, the importance of maintaining patient confidentiality and privacy has not, especially on social media. With social media use increasingly prevalent in daily life, it is important to ensure the safety and privacy of patients. Patient privacy is protected by law, and by the standards set out

The code of professional conduct for nurses’ states in conduct statement 2, that a nurse must practice in adherence to the standards of their profession and the health board. In instances where a nurse observes any circumstance that goes against professional standards, or is unethical or unlawful practice, they must report this to the appropriate authorities. Further stated, is that if the issue is not resolved internally that the nurse may notify external authorities in order to safeguard their patients (NMBA, 2008a, statement 2). In this case the witnessing nurse should approach the Registered Nurse (RN) or preceptor for the clinical placement (Charles Darwin University, 2015). The elevation of the situation is important as the hospital needs to know of any breaches in its patient’s privacy. The NMBA code of ethics for nurses (2008b) states in the value Statement 7 that a nurse must ensure that the management of patient information is carried out in a safe and ethical manner. This means that not only are records correct, but the information in the records and any information about patients and their health is kept private and confidential to only the health professionals that require it. Without patient confidentiality there can be no patient confidence in the services rendered by that facility. For

Therefore, it is important that student nurses, and other nursing staff, are aware of the appropriate way to interact on social media. This is essential to the continued safety of the privacy and confidentiality of patients (Spector & Kappel, 2012). As a solution to the inappropriate social media use in this scenario, one recommendation would be the implementation of a social media policy, as well as, appropriate education for students about the regulations of the policy. For example, Charles Darwin University has a social media policy for students, which states that students should act in accordance with the university code of conduct, and only publish information that is publicly available and will not affect the reputation of the university (Charles Darwin University, 2015b). Appropriate education about this policy, could have prevented this scenario from taking place. The benefits of a social media policy are that it allows for the consistent communication to employees and students of the required rules and regulations to follow when using social media (Fuduric & Mandelli, 2014). This allows students, and others, the opportunity to have a clear cut view on what is, or is not, appropriate behaviour on social media. In addition to this social media policy, education on the appropriate ways to use this policy would be beneficial. These benefits are