Another nurse bites the dust due to facebook

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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?

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Specializes in Management, Emergency, Psych, Med Surg.

In this particular situation, you bet it got her fired. And the main reason for that termination I would suspect is because she must have given indication that she worked at that particular facility. When you make public comment that may in any way be interpreted as coming from that facility, you can be terminated unless you get prior approval. Let me give you another example. Back in the day before Facebook and the like, people would write letters to the editor. I had a nurse who was working for me in the ED who wrote a letter to the editor regarding her dislike of a particular political candidate. In her letter she made reference to her work in the ED and signed her name, RN and the name of the facility where she worked. She was terminated. Because it came across as a comment from the facility, not from a private citizen.

I am a member of several blogs, Facebook and Newsvine and I am very vocal about my opinion. But I am VERY CAUTIOUS. I never ever make reference to where I work or have worked and I make it clear that any opinion that I express about an issue is my own. If there is an issue that concerns the organization that I work for, I do not comment. If it concerns a patient that I know about, I do not comment. I might comment that I am a registered nurse but I never ever make reference to my workplace. EVER.

And I NEVER EVER under any circumstances send anything but business email from my work email. NEVER EVER. And no on line shopping or checking of my private email.

The bottom line is that once it is out on the internet, it is there for everyone to see. If you send an email to anyone always make the assumption that EVERYONE is going to see it. I have stopped sending email of a problem nature at work. I talk to the person directly.

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I keep telling people to be careful what they post on FB etc. So far it has fallen on frozen keyboards and deaf ears.

I use FB to keep up with family and a few friends primarily, but to vent about work etc. NO WAY!! I'm suprised that no one (that I know of) has been terminated from posting on ALLNURSES.

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Specializes in Hospice / Psych / RNAC.

Sask. nurse who wrote about grandfather's ‘subpar care' on Facebook found guilty of professional misconduct | National Post

Be careful; even on here. I am sure there are many more like this.

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Specializes in Psych ICU, addictions.

A dead thread resurrected for a good reason :) Thanks for the update on this matter.

Hopefully this will be a cautionary tale for those who are tempted to vent on social media and other online outlets. Just because one may have the right to free speech, doesn't mean that one is exempt from any consequences from what they say. And the internet is indeed forever.

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Specializes in Psych, Addictions, SOL (Student of Life).
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.

Actually in the US the Constitutional Right to privacy is decided by the court on a case by case basis. It is generally argued that a person only has a right to privacy in situations where a reasonable expectation to privacy exists. The higher courts have found on numerous occasions that the internet is not a situation where a reasonable expectation of privacy exists so if you put it out there - be prepared to deal with the consequences.

Hppy

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