Did I make a violation?

[CupcakeHead]

Hi all. Need some info. I feel confident that I didn't do anything wrong, but I just need clarification.

I made a post on facebook today about a patient that I took care of. I mentioned that it was a dementia patient who was nonverbal & bed-bound and how excited I was that she responded to me and spoke some words to me. I used no individually identifying information, made no reference to the hospital or room number that the patient was in, or where she was being transferred to. I mentioned that she had a daughter who basically ran out of the room when I asked if she wanted to feed her mother. Nor did I post any pictures of this patient.

A woman on the thread said that I had violated patient confidentiality. I really didn't think that I violated anything, but now I'm worried since I am 2 weeks from graduating.

[Pangea Reunited, ASN, RN]

You did. I would suggest you take it down immediately and thank the person who gave you a heads up. In the future, keep your school and work experiences OFF facebook.

[mrsboots87]

While you didn't technically violate HIPAA, there is likely a policy on social media use. My nursing program guidelines as well as policy at both facilities have have worked at have a no social media policy about anything from the workplace. A simple "had a great day at work" is fine. But anything more than that would be violating policy. Double check your handbook, but to be honest, the best practice would just be to never post anything about work or patients. Even if you don't break policy, you run the risk of offending the wrong person and getting targeted because of it.

[CupcakeHead]

The post was deleted and the individual who pointed it out, blocked me.

[CupcakeHead]

Thank you for your reply. I reviewed my school's policy.

[Pangea Reunited, ASN, RN]

The post was deleted and the individual who pointed it out, blocked me.

That's harsh...

What you have to realize is that even without a picture or name, your patient could be identified with the information you provided. If I were a classmate of yours, for example, I would likely know who you were talking about. In post-clinical discussion, that's OK ...but it's not OK on social media. And on top of that, you made an unflattering remark about the patient's family member.

Your "friends" have each had different experiences in life and there's no telling what any one of them might become offended by. People also have relationships with each other that aren't always obvious. My grandfather was a patient at one of my school's clinical sites, for example. If a student had described him on facebook, I probably would have noticed.

People occasionally print things out like this and show them to instructors/bosses. Bad outcomes sometimes occur. And in many cases, the one dealing with the bad outcome has no idea who "told".

Be careful...

[CupcakeHead]

I posted it in a private support group that I am in. I don't know anyone in the group.

[CupcakeHead]

That's harsh...

And on top of that, you made an unflattering remark about the patient's family member.

But I see your point. And I can see why someone might be offended, after going through the HIPAA threads (which I posted this in the wrong place...first timer).

[CupcakeHead]

I am now considering leaving the group, even though I really love it. The admins didn't say anything to me about it, but the mention of HIPAA scared the crap out of me and I deleted the post immediately.

[Pangea Reunited, ASN, RN]

I am now considering leaving the group, even though I really love it. The admins didn't say anything to me about it, but the mention of HIPAA scared the crap out of me and I deleted the post immediately.

It's good that you don't know anybody in the group in real life. Hopefully, they don't know your school or clinical site, either. It might be better to lay low for a while, but hopefully nothing will come of it.

[CupcakeHead]

It's good that you don't know anybody in the group in real life. Hopefully, they don't know your school or clinical site, either. It might be better to lay low for a while, but hopefully nothing will come of it.

No, nothing visible on my public facebook page shows where I live, go to school, where I work. Even pictures that can identify my place of school are invisible. I applied for a job recently and scrubbed my FB clean of anything, even hid a bunch of posts that might be viewed as controversial. I know that I looked up the person from HR that contacted me. If I looked her up, I was confident that she would look at my facebook, too.

I watched a very close friend of mine lose her job because she posted about a work related thing - not even nursing related. If they checked her profile out (she was a pee-on for her company), I am damn sure that a well known hospital would check my social media out.

[dishes, BSN, RN]

Off topic, if you're a student and do not hold a nursing license, you should not use the title nurse in your user name, suggest you ask the moderators to modify it to crochetingnurse2be or something similar.