I am a nursing student in a RN program. I was doing clinical at one of the local hospitals recently. I was summoned to a meeting with the dean of nursing at my college to discuss an issue that was brought to her attention by this hospital. Apparently the hospital claims that I posted patient information to my Facebook account, which I had not done. I asked the dean of nursing what proof the hospital had provided to support their claim that I broke HIPPA. The dean said that she asked the hospital for proof, but they said they could not provide any. To show that I had nothing to hide, I let the dean go through my Facebook page where she found no wrong doing on my part. After this, she said the hospital provided one bit of information from my Facebook page. It was a status update from October where I mentioned I had bipolar disorder. The hospital has banned me from ever doing clinical at their site again, and I'm guessing I can pretty much rule that hospital out as a future employer, as well as any of their local clinics.
Now, to me, this seems like a blatant case of discrimination based on my mental health status, and many others feel the same way.
Now, my question is, what should I do about this?
My father talked to a local nurse who said this could become a big problem for me even outside of this particular hospital. She said I should write a response to their claims, and demand that it be placed in my personnel file at this hospital. I don't know if that is the right path to take or not.
I don't want to be labeled as a person that broke HIPPA policy, but I also don't want to be discriminated against in the future do to my mental health status.
I would like to add, that although you think your classmates know nothing about this...
I was on this site one day, browsing around different topics, and ran accross something that sounded vaguely familiar, VERY vaguely. I went to the poster's profile, and searched all her posts and ran through them. Oh yes, definitely one of my co-workers. What I figured out would be very embarrassing to her, as it was a situation involving the fact that several years ago, she failed NCLEX several times before passing and coming to work at my hospital. She also almost got fired for several mistakes. I've never mentioned anything about it, of course, but I bet she has no idea how easy it was for somebody to find that out. Not to mention a potential future employer.
I am glad you've told this story, though, it's a good heads-up for most of us, about what we post, both here and EVERYWHERE else. It's a good reminder that we cannot even guess how our words could be misconstrued, and nobody wants to be in a position of fighting off something so unfair.
I suggest contacting the admins at FB and see what they recommend.
Good luck with this... going to consider closing my FB account.
*ac*
You will notice that my profile here is completely blank. There is a reason for that! :wink2:
I did originally decide to post this here after much thought for two reasons:
1) I wanted honest advice on what course of action I should pursue, and
2) I don't want anyone to make the same mistake I have.
We need to look out for each other, and one of the best ways is learning from some elses mistakes before you make them yourself!
In my experience as a nursing faculty member, hospitals, in their contracts/agreements with schools of nursing for clinicals, reserve the right to refuse any student for any reason they see fit. There have been posts on this board about schools being refused further access to particular areas of the hospital for clinicals because a student made a comment about the unit that the hospital didn't like. I know of situations where entire schools of nursing have been banned from doing clinicals at a particular hospital because of one student's actions. Remember that nursing students and instructors are guests in hospitals for clinical; the hospitals don't get any compensation for allowing students in, and they take on a fair amount of additional work and liability for doing so, in addition to putting the reputation of the hospital at risk to some extent (members of the public assume that nursing students are part of the hospital, even though they're not, and anything the students say or do in front of the public reflects on the public perception of the hospital). They are doing schools a big favor by allowing them to come in for clinicals, they are under no obligation whatsoever to do so, and I don't think it's unreasonable for them to expect their "hospitality" to be appreciated and respected. You don't have any legal or civil right to do clinicals at a particular hospital (in the last BSN program in which I taught, the student handbook included a statement that, if you got declined/refused by any hospital for clinicals, the school would attempt to find another clinical site where you could complete the clinical rotation, but, if that effort wasn't successful, you would have to leave the program).
I'm certainly not saying any of this to defend the hospital's actions in this case (or saying that the OP did anything wrong -- sounds like the whole thing was an unfortunate misunderstanding); just laying it out because many (most?) students don't understand how this works. In this case, the flap has blown over at school and you're (the OP) going to be able to continue on in school. I seriously doubt that there's any recourse against the hospital, and, IMHO, your best course of action is to take a deep breath and move on. And be v. careful about what you post online (all of us ...) -- you really do never know who's going to see it or what the fallout will be!
In my experience as a nursing faculty member, hospitals, in their contracts/agreements with schools of nursing for clinicals, reserve the right to refuse any student for any reason they see fit. There have been posts on this board about schools being refused further access to particular areas of the hospital for clinicals because a student made a comment about the unit that the hospital didn't like. I know of situations where entire schools of nursing have been banned from doing clinicals at a particular hospital because of one student's actions. Remember that nursing students and instructors are guests in hospitals for clinical; the hospitals don't get any compensation for allowing students in, and they take on a fair amount of additional work and liability for doing so, in addition to putting the reputation of the hospital at risk to some extent (members of the public assume that nursing students are part of the hospital, even though they're not, and anything the students say or do in front of the public reflects on the public perception of the hospital). They are doing schools a big favor by allowing them to come in for clinicals, they are under no obligation whatsoever to do so, and I don't think it's unreasonable for them to expect their "hospitality" to be appreciated and respected. You don't have any legal or civil right to do clinicals at a particular hospital (in the last BSN program in which I taught, the student handbook included a statement that, if you got declined/refused by any hospital for clinicals, the school would attempt to find another clinical site where you could complete the clinical rotation, but, if that effort wasn't successful, you would have to leave the program).
I'm certainly not saying any of this to defend the hospital's actions in this case (or saying that the OP did anything wrong -- sounds like the whole thing was an unfortunate misunderstanding); just laying it out because many (most?) students don't understand how this works. In this case, the flap has blown over at school and you're (the OP) going to be able to continue on in school. I seriously doubt that there's any recourse against the hospital, and, IMHO, your best course of action is to take a deep breath and move on. And be v. careful about what you post online (all of us ...) -- you really do never know who's going to see it or what the fallout will be!
Best wishes to the OP!
1) this may be the case, but i doubt it....hospitals dont do anything out of the goodness of their hearts.....when i was in NS (three year hosp) most of our clinical was done in our home hospital.....but ob and 1/2 of peds was "farmed" out,,,and it was "known" that the peds rotation was paid for, and even cut the nursing staff while we were there, talk about making us very poplular with the staff, not!......but that isnt the real issue here, the OP has been accused of a crime, that may/may not come back to cause him/her an issue in the future
Specializes in Med-Surg, Critical Care, Public Health.
the lawyer would take her money and run. bad advice. if she willfully withheld information from the application, especially if it asked about any mental disorder, she has no legal ground to stand on. that is considered misleading or even fraud. face book is like a public record, and anyone can have access. if she wanted to keep her mental condition a secret, she should not have mentioned it on face book. (if it is true)
remember, the school also have a lawyer of their own that they consult with, and the dean would not have made such a decision on blind faith.
she should not be prevented from attending another school. if that happens, that is when a lawyer will be necessary.
sorry, this quote was meant for a different post. please forgive me
and it was "known" that the peds rotation was paid for, and even cut the nursing staff while we were there, talk about making us very poplular with the staff, not!
That is a highly unusual arrangement, and would not be permitted in any of the states I've been in over the years.
I feel for you, james78, this is a horrible situation to be in - one careless note on a site that claims to be private (or betrayed by a "friend") and your chances with a certain hospital are basically over. But I think you will be fine in nursing school! (My BSN class was once locked out of the major teaching hospital in our area for a whole year due to a conflict of the college with the hospital's CEO; so we had to travel some (which got us a much better peds clinical experience than we would have gotten locally), but were all able to complete our clinicals). You surely don't want to work for an institution that conducts this kind of "background check" on students!
I think we can all learn from this - I already post next to nothing on Facebook (only joined to read others' posts - close friends and family, fewer than 20) and now I'm considering closing the account. And I deleted my location and some other info on Allnurses as well.
It never amazes me what some people post on Facebook - a friend of mine, also a nurse, invited her boss as well as her hospital's CEO and HR manager (!) and posts some stuff that I wouldn't want my close friends to know about me (she's bipolar, BTW - I sure hope she doesn't post anything related to her medical condition). Another friend of mine told me that Facebook has weak security and is a "hacker's dream"... so I don't think trusting their security settings is such a good idea.
Best of luck to you, james78, I wish you the very best.
why would or should a hospital allow its building/equipment be used without compensation????
While I've never heard of a hospital charging a school for student clinicals, what I was referring to specifically as not allowed was the cutting back on staffing because of the presence of students. That is a strict no-no everywhere I've ever been.
if you withheld evidence or give false information on an application, it can be grounds for dismissal from the program. It is up to the dean to show some type of discretion. On the other hand, posting information on face book becomes public view. So, if you did that, they have the legal right.
the school should not use the information, to prevent you from pursuing your goal. That is when the lawyer can intervene. Next time be honest because you will have a better chance of legal protection
GOOD LUCK
They have a right to boot him because he has some medical/psychiatric issue, even though he is a competent student? I doubt it.
In my experience as a nursing faculty member, hospitals, in their contracts/agreements with schools of nursing for clinicals, reserve the right to refuse any student for any reason they see fit. There have been posts on this board about schools being refused further access to particular areas of the hospital for clinicals because a student made a comment about the unit that the hospital didn't like. I know of situations where entire schools of nursing have been banned from doing clinicals at a particular hospital because of one student's actions. Remember that nursing students and instructors are guests in hospitals for clinical; the hospitals don't get any compensation for allowing students in, and they take on a fair amount of additional work and liability for doing so, in addition to putting the reputation of the hospital at risk to some extent (members of the public assume that nursing students are part of the hospital, even though they're not, and anything the students say or do in front of the public reflects on the public perception of the hospital). They are doing schools a big favor by allowing them to come in for clinicals, they are under no obligation whatsoever to do so, and I don't think it's unreasonable for them to expect their "hospitality" to be appreciated and respected. You don't have any legal or civil right to do clinicals at a particular hospital (in the last BSN program in which I taught, the student handbook included a statement that, if you got declined/refused by any hospital for clinicals, the school would attempt to find another clinical site where you could complete the clinical rotation, but, if that effort wasn't successful, you would have to leave the program).
I'm certainly not saying any of this to defend the hospital's actions in this case (or saying that the OP did anything wrong -- sounds like the whole thing was an unfortunate misunderstanding); just laying it out because many (most?) students don't understand how this works. In this case, the flap has blown over at school and you're (the OP) going to be able to continue on in school. I seriously doubt that there's any recourse against the hospital, and, IMHO, your best course of action is to take a deep breath and move on. And be v. careful about what you post online (all of us ...) -- you really do never know who's going to see it or what the fallout will be!
Best wishes to the OP!
I wouldn't be so quick to decide that the student has absolutely no rights. There is, after all, some sort of contractual obligation on the part of both the facility and the school. And the school has some obligations toward its students. You need a good, competent, aggressive attorney to go to bat for you. It ain't over til its over.
He could claim that the school failed him by not preparing him adequately for safeguarding his reputation and history, for not specifically educating him about the perils of posting on the web - a good lawyer will come up with some challenges.
While I've never heard of a hospital charging a school for student clinicals, what I was referring to specifically as not allowed was the cutting back on staffing because of the presence of students. That is a strict no-no everywhere I've ever been.
2010NewRN
22 Posts
*ac*
You will notice that my profile here is completely blank. There is a reason for that! :wink2:
I did originally decide to post this here after much thought for two reasons:
1) I wanted honest advice on what course of action I should pursue, and
2) I don't want anyone to make the same mistake I have.
We need to look out for each other, and one of the best ways is learning from some elses mistakes before you make them yourself!