NY Med - a great reminder about social media and nursing

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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.

2.) the picture I posted was actually originally posted by a doctor who also worked in the ER a week earlier. I was scrolling through his TL a week later, saw the photo and decided it was a strong picture and screen shot it and reposted it on my page. Nothing ever happened to the MD who posted the picture.

What is up with this? Why does a nurse get fired for reposting, but the doctor who originally posted the pic gets zilch? I know the proverbial "&%*# rolls downhill" but that's just wrong, in my little ol' opinion.

Glad you found a new job!

Specializes in Critical Care, ED, Cath lab, CTPAC,Trauma.

Physicians bring revenue...nurses however do not. Physicians protect other physicians...nurses do not. After watching this weeks episode I can see that one nurses popularity with the public can be resented by other staff. I am also curious if the train accident on the show was the same crash that was posted. Kind of clears up the players involved for me.

Physicians bring revenue...nurses however do not. Physicians protect other physicians...nurses do not. After watching this weeks episode I can see that one nurses popularity with the public can be resented by other staff. I am also curious if the train accident on the show was the same crash that was posted. Kind of clears up the players involved for me.

While I do understand that line of reasoning, it's still pretty darn crummy (the situation, not your explanation LOL).

Physicians bring revenue...nurses however do not. Physicians protect other physicians...nurses do not.

YEP YEP YEP! I think the second day of nursing school we covered this - if it's you vs. a doctor, don't think you're coming out of that one unscathed, they can and will get rid of you. There are 3.1 million nurses in the US and 834,769 physicians (per Total Professionally Active Physicians | The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation) - guess who management thinks is easier to replace?

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Hospitals have and always will...do exactly as they wish. I am sorry you lost your job. It was not HIPAA. It was an empty trauma room.

I have seen many GOOD nurses fall to bad administrations. You were handed lemons and turned it into lemonade..Kudos!

It is in fact a hipaa violation..

I live in NYC and the accident appeared in local papers and on local news.

uploading a photo to the internet makes it available globally.

I'm sure some of you who do not live in NYC probably looked up the story of the man vs the 6 train.

ex: The media can report Beyonce is in a NYC hospital and had a baby girl. However if a healthcare professional does that via a picture of a empty room with a balloon saying "congrats it's a girl" with hashtags beyonce. That is a hipaa violation.

Same scenario here and same rule applies

I really like NY med- season 2 has been a lot more exciting with less creepy Dr. Oz messiah clips. So I'm on board.

Regarding Katie Duke "the duke": I used to love Katie Duke in season 1 as a strong confident and competent RN; but I think the "fame" got to her and she seemed quite different in season 2. Cameras change people.

The shameless self promotion of products and trying to make the phrase "deal with it" happen (it's not going to happen) just doesn't sit well with me.

As far as the instagram photo goes, I found it insensitive.. Katie's argument that it was a "powerful picture" trying to make it seem like art or something?

Someone got hit by a train.. You posted a picture you shouldn't have, your employer took action.

"Deal with it".

So don't get fired- practice good judgment with social media!
And don't forget,

AllNurses.com and other boards are social media.

Specializes in Pediatrics, High-Risk L&D, Antepartum, L.

I think the most appalling issue here is the physician not being reprimanded for the same offense. Ridiculous.

This response is not to Katie Duke, but in general (based on responses).

The firing does not surprise me. The fact that the MD did not get reprimanded (or even questioned, apparently) also does not surprise me. As others have stated, large corporations/ institutions are going to do what they want, as long as they are following the law. Also, we might want to admit it, but all employees (esp. nurses...more numerous as someone noted) are completely disposable. It's tough to admit this, but it's 100% true.

I learned this working for a large, well-known company (still my employer). I saw so many people get chewed up and spit out. Some were unbelievably high-achieving employees. Did not matter. If anything, it's safer to be average. Yes, yes, yes, of course be safe (above all) at all times and follow the rules/ protocols and do your job, but stay under the radar. The "above and beyond" types often attract attention and might come across as ladder-climbers/ a threat/ annoying/ suspect. Sad but true. It's not a pleasant thought, but it's much safer and more realistic to realize we are all completely disposable.

Specializes in direct patient care/ekg/phlebotomy.

That why i got rid of social media along time ago.. I just want to go to work and do what I got to do and you'll never find me posting anything about my job because it's not really good to do. NYP is a great hospital but they're really strict on behalf of their employee policy . Plus they're not union.

So this nurse was fired without warning. She may have signed a social media policy statement stating different things she would not do on social media (i.e. post pictures of the hospital), but even if she didn't sign anything it's still a HIPAA violation.

Do you think we do a good job of modeling correct behavior on social media? Or maybe we do a better job of punishing people when they do something bad on social media. Social media is here to stay and I believe that instead of telling nurses what cannot be posted on social media, we should teach nurses what is acceptable to post. Nursing for many is an identity and it may be very hard to separate their work life and personal life on social media. Maybe we should do a better job to teaching and positive role modeling and less punishing.

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