ABC TV:NY Med shows ER nurse fired due to social media post

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I enjoyed NY Med ABC TV limited series about life in NY Presbyterian-Weil Cornell Med Center last year so tuned into premier tonight. Shows patient dramas involved young man with dissecting aneurysim who's father died at age 21 same illness, young man with multiple GSW--8 exit wounds, male neurosurgical patient with cervical spinal cord tumor and young lwomen brought in by ambulance due to "Sunburn on legs, unable to stand up" due to second degree burns with nerf football size blisters needing debridement in burn unit. Medical personnel stories involved 28yo female urology resident and 6 yr veteran ER RN--who gets FIRED over social media post + escorted out the door.

TV Guide:

watchlist&sz=2x2&tile=1&c=12345The Biz: Inside the New Season of NY Med

TV Guide Magazine: In the first episode, a New York Presbyterian nurse is fired because she posted a picture of the ER on Twitter. That seemed surprising because personnel issues can get tricky. Did you need to do a lot of legal vetting to get that on the air?

Wrong: Remember ABC News is doing this series, so we operate under its standards and practices. We do not allow the hospital to see our edited footage before it airs and we don't seek their approval. As a fair play issue, was her firing fair or merited? She posted photos from inside her work place, an environment where patients assume there is medical confidentiality. There are strict codes and regulations. She admitted she was wrong to do it and they fired her for it. That sent a message to staff. If [the hospital] had a vote, would they have wanted that story in the series? I don't know. It's possible they wouldn't have.

Thankfully, another ER hires this well liked RN:

3-messages-about-nurses-that-Katie-Duke-wants-to-send-the-world-298x185.jpg

St Louis Today:

St. Louis nurse Katie Duke is back (and not) on 'NY Med .

it's a good guess that the "NY Med" team was as shocked as Duke when she was called upstairs and informed that, after 6½ years, she had just worked her last shift at New York Presbyterian. Viewers would be shocked, too, if teases for the new season didn't give that development away.

For details about what went wrong for Duke, you'll need to watch the Season 2 premiere of the eight-part series at 9 p.m. Thursday on ABC.

Suffice to say, learning she was being let go "was traumatic. That place was my family," she says.

Don't worry about Duke, though. Not only has she landed another job, she has many more irons in the fire, including a website (officialkatieduke.com), a new YouTube show, an endorsement deal for Dickies and Cherokee scrubs, speaking engagements and a line of "Deal With It" merchandise. She'll even return in later episodes of "NY Med."

Video:

http://abcnews.go.com/video/embed?id=23698420

Specializes in School Nursing, Public Health Nurse.

Is this the same hospital that Dr. Oz is affiliated with? If so I watched one episode and it turned me off because the surgeon was in the OR ready to go in a dress, high heels, full make-up, and dangling earrings. It really irked me seeing that and I have never done OR, but that was highly inappropriate in my opinion. I was awesome seeing a Latina surgeon, but I couldn't believe I saw that.

I like the show, but I think that Katie crossed the line. This is in addition to the hospital crossing the line by bringing in cameras.

I did view Katie's website & think the whole television thing is going to her head. She wants to be "THE" public figure of nursing & trying to trademark "Deal with It". I would like someone with more professionalism to represent my career, not someone who got fired for posting silly photos to social media.

I like the show, but I think that Katie crossed the line. This is in addition to the hospital crossing the line by bringing in cameras.

I did view Katie's website & think the whole television thing is going to her head. She wants to be "THE" public figure of nursing & trying to trademark "Deal with It". I would like someone with more professionalism to represent my career, not someone who got fired for posting silly photos to social media.

YEP. I find she just sort of talks in these generalities and cliches, which I find disingenuous. There are so many parts of nursing that are interesting/rough/way more complex than "deal with it."

Specializes in Med Surg, Telemetry, ICU, ER as an Aide.

I interview Katie for my podcast and she is a great person. She helps and supports all those around her. The actual issue is there are blurred lines with how something that is integral to society like social media is feared rather than being understood.

If anyone wants to criticize Katie and say it's gotten to her head, that's one way of looking at it.

But, with people like Dr. Oz on the tv. there aren't many ways for one to discount that there media always likes to have a point of reference. Whichever way your opinion goes, I'm proud that Katie has been up to bigger and better things like being signed by Dickies scrubs and more.

Everyone wants to be regular and boring, but you're not utilizing your full potential if you're not USING your full potential.

Specializes in Med Surg, Telemetry, ICU, ER as an Aide.

I personally spoke to Katie for my podcast, and she told me that for NY MED, they needed interesting nurses and she was one of the chosen ones. No one wants to watch boring tv.

It's always easy to make assumptions and more about someone until you actually know them.

But either way, their lives and successes will go on, just as yours will. The difference is what the levels of those successes will be.

Do you think taking instagram photo is ethically correct? She was told she didn't violate rules.

emaxhealth.com/12410/nurse-loses-job-over-instagram-photo-man-vs-6-train-debate

Katie Duke posted a picture of the ER room after hospital staff had finished helping a man who had been hit by a train. The patient and staff were not included in the photo, but the room was messy. Duke worked at New York Presbyterian Hospital for seven years and was shocked that she would be fired over a picture.

Although she was told she did not violate the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), the hospital felt she was being “insensitive” and let her go. Duke feels that sharing a photo of a trauma room without any people in it should not have resulted in her losing her position as a nurse. She points out a doctor from the same hospital originally took the photo, and she simply shared it.

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P.S. I was actually going to make an introduction, as this is my first post, but the system didn't allow me to chose that category.

Specializes in Med/surg, Tele, educator, FNP.

I don't think she should have been fired. How did they find out it was her?

Specializes in Critical Care/Vascular Access.

Personally, I don't think it's an ethical issue at all. It was just unwise and somewhat insensitive. The way I see it, ANYTHING you post online is no longer private. So sure, there were no staff or patients in the room, but if that picture got around the internet and any friends or family that knew the man saw the picture, they might not have felt so intrigued by "the reality of ER in a major hospital". I still think firing her was a little bit overkill, but she should have known better. Whether it was technically right or wrong is beside the point, in the litigious society we live in these days it was dumb to even take the risk. I see stuff all the time at work that I want to share but I know better than to risk it. I'm hesitant even commenting on Facebook about my day at work sometimes. ha.

Specializes in Nasty sammiches and Dilaudid.

You're a few days late...

https://allnurses.com/nursing-news/abc-tv-ny-932960.html

Specializes in OR, Nursing Professional Development.

She may not have violated HIPAA, but I'll bet she violated the hospital's social media policy.

Wasn't this just shown on the new TV series NY Med just a few weeks ago ?

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