BE CAREFUL on social networks

[Chico David]

There was another recent posting - thread now closed - by a nurse who got in trouble over a Facebook posting. I have some direct experience with this - as a union steward - and a fair amount of second hand knowledge. Here are a few basic things to keep in mind:

1. Your Facebook "friends" may very well not be your actual friends - in every case that I've dealt with, management became aware of the offending posting when a "friend" of the poster brought it to their attention. And your privacy settings are no protection.

2. You do not have rights of "free speech" related to your work - the First Amendment protects you against the government intruding on your free speech rights - it says nothing about your employer.

3. If you are not covered by a union contract, in most parts of the US you are an at will employee and can be fired for any reason or no reason - except for a very small number of protected reasons like your age or race.

4. If you post something that would make anyone reading it think they might not get good care at your hospital, that would almost always be a legitimate reason for action against you. Here are a few real life examples: "We were so understaffed it was scary" or "If another person comes into the ER just to get narcs, I might punch them out" or "I got so frustrated with one patient I wanted to take her call light away".

Yeah, we've all had feelings like that, and we might say them to a real friend face to face - but posting them online for all to see - and, no matter what your privacy settings are, it really is for all to see - is just foolish. Save those rants for your truly private conversations.

One last note: Labor law does protect concerted activity. So if your union has a Facebook page and you were having a discussion there about how to improve staffing at your hospital, a negative comment on staffing in that context would likely be protected by law - but the exact same comment in the context of just a general rant likely would not be.

So, be careful, be smart, don't cause yourself unneeded trouble for silly reasons.

[Meriwhen, ASN, BSN, MSN, RN]

We still hear about this one in school!

And I'll bet that's probably not what she wants her nursing legacy to be. Unfortunately, because of the internet, such lapses in judgment can continue to haunt someone for a very long time.

[Penelope_Pitstop, BSN, RN]

the fact that I went to the sold out George Strait concert last night

I drove more than 300 miles to see him in Hartford this year. The tickets and hotel were my Christmas present from my boyfriend. I *adore* King George!

Umm, back to the topic at hand...

[Pudnluv, ASN, RN]

I have heard that at my hospital, there are people whose job is to monitor social media. I have a FB that I rarely use. I have alot of family that live in different states and even some in other countries. FB has given us a way to stay in touch with each other. I rarely post anything on FB, but I have posted some pics of my vacations to share with family and friends. I keep my privacy settings on friends only. I never post about work or co workers. I also don't put up drunken pictures or anything that might show me in a bad light. It amazes me the people who will post pics of themselves sloppy drunk so all their FB friends, including co workers can see it. It also amazes me when you will see a picture of your co worker who called in sick, partying it up. I guess I'm from an era before social media and I was always taught to act respectably not just because of your employer, but because anything else would reflect badly on your profession.

[Irish_Mist, BSN, RN]

I am not a nurse (yet) but I would just like to give kudos to Chico David RN for posting this. So many people lack common sense in the social media arena and I think his post brings a lot of awareness to a subject many people can relate to. Personally, I have people from work on my facebook. If I had it to do all over again, I wouldn't do that because you never really know if you can trust your co-workers. Granted, I NEVER speak of my work on facebook or post questionable pictures or status updates but still, my element of privacy and separation from work/personal life is not there. I've learned that for the most part, everyone is out for themselves and if the opportunity to look good at your expense presents itself, then your co-workers will take it. Since I want to "make nice", I have chosen not to delete co-workers because I don't want to offend anyone or "disrupt the apple cart". My polices: No questionable pictures of me, anyone or anything. No indication of where I work, who I work for, etc. Absolutely NO negative comments about my job, employer, or co-workers. You never know who is looking at your page. Prospective employers, "frenemy" co-workers, etc. Why risk your career, reputation and hard work for facebook? It isn't worth it.

I would also like to point out that the nursing student who posted a picture of a placenta displayed a serious lack of judgment, professionalism and critical thinking. I get she was a student but if she were to be an employee at that hospital, I'm sure she would have been dismissed too. How would that patient have felt knowing a picture of her placenta was put on facebook? I would not have liked that if I were the patient. Tacky, tacky, tacky.

[nurseprnRN, BSN, RN]

Maybe there should be a separate accounts on FB, one for personal and one for professional.

We call LinkedIn "Facebook for grownups."

[TrissRN726]

I completely agree! I deactivated my facebook recently, it causes too many problems and it seems as though many people use it to vent their problems that is no concern to other people.

[tintin_rhea, BSN]

excellent stuff here. and I learned a lot too. If you have nothing good to say, just shut up and don't wash your dirty laundry in public.Especially in facebook/twitter.

[michiganstudent]

Thanks for this article! My school had some serious things to say about Facebook at orientation, and that - along with this thread- helped me to decide to delete my facebook account.

[carolinapooh, BSN, RN]

Maybe there should be a separate accounts on FB, one for personal and one for professional.

Better yet - perhaps people should just learn to exercise a bit of common sense and professionalism.

My job does not dictate to me whether or not I can have a Facebook account - but what I choose to post on that account can certainly dictate whether or not I have a job.

[springchick1, ADN, RN]

My hospital says that if we have that I work for Such and Such hospital (which I don't because I don't think that's a good idea) we have to have a disclaimer that our views do not reflect the views of the hospital. I've been in trouble over a facebook post. I said, Another Monday at work. I was called into the office and told that it sounded negative, that I didn't like my job, and that it reflected badly on the hospital (even though nowhere did it say where I work or what I do) I was told that my friends know where I work and it may make them go to another hospital (REALLY?!) So, even things you may say in complete innocence, your employee may not. Just be careful what you say.

[rnlately]

My hospital says that if we have that I work for Such and Such hospital (which I don't because I don't think that's a good idea) we have to have a disclaimer that our views do not reflect the views of the hospital. I've been in trouble over a facebook post. I said Another Monday at work. I was called into the office and told that it sounded negative, that I didn't like my job, and that it reflected badly on the hospital (even though nowhere did it say where I work or what I do) I was told that my friends know where I work and it may make them go to another hospital (REALLY?!) So, even things you may say in complete innocence, your employee may not. Just be careful what you say.[/quote']

We have the same policy. Just be careful is the best advice I can give anyone. I see so many people post pictures of themselves in action at work. To me that sends a message that we're not busy enough.

[anotherone, BSN, RN]

I dont have a facebook nor did I read all the posts But if I posted something like, "mandated again due to short staffing " and that "makes" the hospital look bad and I get fired or written up for it, can't the hospital also find themselves in legal trouble? ( i know enough to understand that rarely is being a martyr worth it)