Social Media Ethical Dilemmas
Social media poses threat to all health care environments, if not used appropriately. I agree that the inappropriate use of social media does violate the code of ethics, the healthcare facilities policy and HIPPA. The inappropriate use of social media can range from posting information on a patient’s condition to checking Facebook instead of giving a patient insulin when their glucose levels are in the 200+ range. The use of social media at the workplace continues to pose a distraction to employees. Within the nursing practices studies have shown that social media has “the potential to cause distractions and interruptions. Several studies have implicated technology as a contributing factor in causing distractions and interruptions among nurses.
Adverse outcomes, including errors in medication administration, have been identified” (Piscotty, 2015) Distractions in the workplace due to social media impacts patient safety. When a nurse misuse social media at the workplace, patients suffer in some way or the other. It increases the risk of mistakes happening. For example, a nurse may be the nurse is late giving the patient medication, or gives the wrong pain medication to the wrong patient. I’ve witness a nurse record a critical lab value on the wrong patient because she was distracted by a post on Facebook when she answered the phone. Thankfully, the physician ordered a repeat lab before treating the patient and even contacted the lab to confirm the results. However, if those steps were not followed, just imagine what could have happened to the patient.
Social media at the workplace should really be used during off hours or breaks to promote health or for personal use. It should not be used during patient care or even at the nurse’s station because it does threaten patient safety, If the patients are at the center of what we do then there should not be much of an argument there.
Adverse outcomes, including errors in medication administration, have been identified” (Piscotty, 2015) Distractions in the workplace due to social media impacts patient safety. When a nurse misuse social media at the workplace, patients suffer in some way or the other. It increases the risk of mistakes happening. For example, a nurse may be the nurse is late giving the patient medication, or gives the wrong pain medication to the wrong patient. I’ve witness a nurse record a critical lab value on the wrong patient because she was distracted by a post on Facebook when she answered the phone. Thankfully, the physician ordered a repeat lab before treating the patient and even contacted the lab to confirm the results. However, if those steps were not followed, just imagine what could have happened to the patient.
Social media at the workplace should really be used during off hours or breaks to promote health or for personal use. It should not be used during patient care or even at the nurse’s station because it does threaten patient safety, If the patients are at the center of what we do then there should not be much of an argument there.