Another nurse bites the dust due to facebook

Nurses Headlines

Published

I don't know the woman in question, yet news reports acknowledge that facebook has caused another job termination casualty in the nursing community. I know there are numerous posts regarding this topic, yet I figure sharing this may help someone think twice when placing job/career related postings on facebook no matter how private you think your posts are!Follow the link to see why. What would you do?

Error 404 | WJBK

Specializes in Liver, lung and kidney transplants.

She did not post anyone's name or her employer, so it is just conjecture on the part of the hospital. I would get a good lawyer.

0 Votes

She was wrong. We need to protect people's privacy in the healthcare industry whether we like the person or not. It's our right to feel safe and secure and know that we can trust our healthcare providers.

0 Votes
Specializes in Community Health, Med-Surg, Home Health.

I think that her comment may have been inappropriate because while she did not say a name, by saying 'cop killer', people knowing where she worked, etc...her comment was not really appropriate for facebook.

What people have to keep in mind, however, is their conduct on facebook, twitter, etc... I used facebook, but to play games, keep current with my alumni and astronomy associations, and I enjoy posting positive or thought provoking quotes for people to read and ponder. Outside of that...saying what mood I'm in, discussing work, etc, is not done because these people are not my friends. And, we have to also keep in mind that judgements are being made about our participation on these social networks. An example is I have a friend who is returning to school and when I note that she has posted her reward points for games at 3am, but I also know she is not doing too well in class, I assume that she is more on facebook than she has her face in her textbook. Now, it could very well be that she has studied for hours and facebook is an outlet.

We don't always know how people perceive us, so, we have to proceed in caution...even in our socialization. People violate our wishes to be 'tagged' and post your pics on facebook with no permission. I may have intended to go to that party, maybe already knew that a few people would take our pictures, but, I did not agree to have my face tagged and spliced all over facebook, myspace and twitter. Bottom line, the age of transparency is here...and people will take advantage of that in many ways to use against us.

0 Votes

Just looking at this string-a little late to the party I know.

"A very good reason to check your privacy settings...and not put anyone that you work with on your friends list."

I think this misses the point. It is not about who you accept on Facebook-it's about maintaining patient privacy. How about not posting discussions/comments about patients? Then, it does not matter who you have as a friend, or what your privacy settings are.

0 Votes
Specializes in Psychiatric, MICA.
Jobs take it too far sometimes imo...

My friend was working in Pier One Imports and she was written up because she wrote, "I don't want to go to work today!" on her twitter. That's retarded. Everyone is entitled to their privacy and personal lives.

I agree with the spirit of your opinion, but I'll add that there is no privacy. Posting online, including this response, makes the information public. I avoid details about work except the most generic especially because of HIPPA. I will, however, continue to feel free to post opinions. It will take some parts of the business community time to catch up, but the trend is obvious.

I can find most addresses on Google Earth and zoom in to ground level and see the place as though I were standing outside it. I can find information on many people with their names and general locations - more or less according to whether I want to pay membership sites. Privacy still applies to what we think, but not so much to everything else. I really figure it's not worth stressing over anymore.

D

0 Votes
Specializes in Hemodialysis.

The nurse in question was foolish to think she wouldn't be held accountable for her remarks. That said I agree with the part about getting in trouble over political ideas or social commentary. One nurse I know was rather harshly reprimanded by her manager at the LTC where she works for posting a comment complaining about road repair work being done in front of her facility. She never mentioned where she worked or even the exact location of the work. The project is about a mile and a half long and there are several businesses in that stretch. She specifically complained about the dust, the noise, how hard it was to get in and out of the area, and the fact the project was already six weeks behind with no end in sight. In the paperwork she showed several of us, the manager stated that since the work was being performed by the state there was a chance the state might retaliate against the facility during the next inspection for her comments.

The only thing I do on FB is one on one messages with a few "real" friends. You never know what seemingly innocent posting will get you in a real bind.

Okay, not done reading the posts on this topic yet, but that one struck me and I had to comment. First of all, I'd be picking over every facility policy there was looking for the grounds of that reprimand. I doubt there is one, and if there is someone please send me it so I can watch for it in any potential employer policy out there. Secondly, I'd wonder what the facility was doing wrong that they would be worried about a state inspection. The state couldn't give a crap whether someone complains about road work or not (as people do every day, very publicly on the radio and news even as a traffic report). Then, I'd be wondering what I did to tee off the manager, because this is so far out there that it seems the manager is just looking for something to slap her on the hand for, for whatever reason. Lastly, I'd be looking for a new job because apparently the bill of rights and the 1st amendment mean nothing to that facility, and I couldn't work for someone who didn't share my affinity for the constitution, and the rights and freedoms that so many people risk or lose their lives defending for me daily. This has nothing to do with HIPAA, it's not libel if it's the truth, she wasn't speaking on behalf of the facility when she said it, and frankly it's insignificant. Most people wouldn't even blink when they saw that. What's next?

0 Votes

A real eye opener. I agree she went too far. Try searching your own name on a few search sites. They have profiles out there of you and everything- what you like, your interests. It is so scary. Our world is out of control. Privacy that we crave is a thing of the past. I enjoy the internet, but wish I could pull everything about myself off.

0 Votes
Specializes in Hemodialysis.
This is an interesting question to me specifically as a federal employee. I am mandated by our facility guidelines (and I think, law) not to express political viewpoints in the workplace (especially to patients) as it might be construed as the opinion of the federal government as a whole. This comes up regularly around election times especially and we are reminded of these standards via hospital-wide emails, etc. Does that mean that I shouldn't express my political viewpoints on FB, either?

This IS a tough call. Are employers turning into our big brother? Do they have any right to be looking at our social networking pages at all?

Actually yeah, they are. Or they're trying to. I feel you. I used to work for the government (city, then county) and it was against policy to have a campaign sign in your yard, whether local or national.

And, if I'm not mistaken, I'd have to look up some case law on it, but I believe you give up your right to privacy when you post something on the internet, but that's a fine line there because the drive behind that is the expectation of privacy, but if all of your stuff is private, and you expect only certain people to see it, then I don't know what the court would say about that. There's probably a ruling on it somewhere I'm sure.

0 Votes
A real eye opener. I agree she went too far. Try searching your own name on a few search sites. They have profiles out there of you and everything- what you like, your interests. It is so scary. Our world is out of control. Privacy that we crave is a thing of the past. I enjoy the internet, but wish I could pull everything about myself off.

I use pipl.com every few months or so. It's an interesting exercise in how little we value our personal information sometimes.

0 Votes
Specializes in Hemodialysis.
Is the nurse manager such a moron that she doesn't see how offensive her reprimand is to state employees? She's implying that they are petty, punitive, and retaliatory in their official capacities as inspectors! And, she put it on a formal reprimand that the state inspectors may be able to actually read as part of their jobs!

What an idiot.

I gave kudos, I wish you could click the kudos button 20 times. This is absolutely rediculous!

I think lawyers are bottom feeders (wait...am I allowed to say that??) but they are good for something, and that something is called case law. You have to get a case into court in order to create case law, and that's court worthy. If there were ever a question raised as to how far an employer can legally go when it comes to social networking, this is prime. There does need to be law governing it, because until then every comment you make that someone doesn't agree with can get you written up or fired. Apparently.

0 Votes
Specializes in Hemodialysis.
A real eye opener. I agree she went too far. Try searching your own name on a few search sites. They have profiles out there of you and everything- what you like, your interests. It is so scary. Our world is out of control. Privacy that we crave is a thing of the past. I enjoy the internet, but wish I could pull everything about myself off.

Also, try searching your email address. You'd be surprised what you can find out about someone just by searching their email address (such as forums they belong to, which may or may not be something you wish everyone to know you belong to...) Just sayin...I've known people get into a lot of trouble that way.

0 Votes
Specializes in Flu clinics, Med/Surg, Acute Care.
I use pipl.com every few months or so. It's an interesting exercise in how little we value our personal information sometimes.

I just did a search of my name on the site and everything came up. It is pretty scary, places I have lived including phone numbers and all kinds of other information. I'm not even listed in the phone book lol What in the world?:uhoh3:

0 Votes
+ Add a Comment