Nursing Students General Students
Published
Not sure if anyone else watches NY Med, but on last night's episode, a staff nurse was fired for instagramming a photo of what a trauma room looks like after a patient has been treated. Many people were upset because it didn't violate HIPAA, but it's important to remember terminations for social media are becoming more and more common. So before you post that picture, ask yourself... 1) Would the hospital want me speaking on behalf of their brand? In a former life I did a lot of branding/marketing and just know that many healthcare facilities spend hundreds of thousands of dollars setting forth a very specific image. Yes, NY Presbyterian did allow cameras into their ER, but what was release from that footage is a very carefully crafted, heavily vetted image of what they want people to know about their brand. What the nurse posted was not--she took it upon herself to take a photo while on the job and put it out on a social media platform. Just know that hospitals google themselves on facebook, instagram, etc... and they are looking for anything being said about them - good or bad. 2) is this therapeutic for the patient and their family? I'm just going to go out on a limb and say that seeing a bloody room where their family member was treated was not something that family enjoyed, nor were they probably consult to the photo being posted. If they had been asked, how do you think, "Do you mind if a put a photo of your loved one's treatment room up on my personal instagram?" would have gone over? If the intention behind a photo is self promotion, best save it for another setting. So don't get fired- practice good judgment with social media! New season started last night on ABC. There wasn't a patient in the photo but there was mention of what he was treated for (being hit by 6 train). Given the 24 hour news cycle (and how bad the papers are) it'd be very easy to figure out that patient's name.