'My Patient died' Facebook post

Nurses HIPAA

Published

I posted on Facebook, "for the first time in my nursing career I had to call a family and tell them their mother died". Somebody that knows where o work replied "hopefully not my aunt". Is this a HIPPA violation on my aunt?

HIPAA is weird and super gray, up for interpretation, and often debatable.

what i do when i feel the need to post things like that is ill pretty much change all the info so that it doesn't really apply to my patients at all.

so while you say you had to "call the family to let them know their mother died" i would've posted "i called a wife to let her know her husband died"

dont ever post factual information about patients you've actually given care to. just get the sentiment across if you feel the need to vent about it.

Specializes in Private Duty Pediatrics.
Thanks for the feedback: yes this is in the terms of service to which everyone agrees when they join:

ALLNURSES.COM is a public site and is indexed by Google and other Search Engines on a daily basis. If there is something you are concerned about being public knowledge, you should not be posting it on ALLNURSES.COM or anywhere online.

We occasionally share posts from ALLNURSES.COM on our Facebook page(s). No personal details are shared. What we share is publicly available on ALLNURSES.COM. We share the link to the page, any image found on the page, and a brief context from the page.

Even if a comment isn't included in our FB or other social media outlets, the internet is not private. Anything and everything can be searched.

I agreed to TOS, because that is required in order to use this site. But I still say that this site would be much better if the powers that be would leave Face Book out of it.

When it's out there on social media, it can be viewed publicly if settings are not tight enough. The employers aren't out to get anyone, and in fact the vast majority of people who post inappropriately on social media are turned in by those on their friends list.

True. Even if set to "friends only," any one of those friends can take a screen shot and put it "out there". NEVER post anything online that you couldn't live with becoming completely public.

Why would you feel the need to put that on social media?

Exactly. There is a lot ("alot", for those in Rio Linda) of stuff that folks post on social media that really need not be posted. During the limited time I spend on Faecesbook, I often see stuff about deaths of the poster's family members... if G-d forbid a member of my family died, the last place I would be is on social media.

A good standard to follow is that such stuff should not be posted. Once it hits the Intertoobz, it isthere (or somewhere ;) ) forever, and for all to see. Depending upon who sees it, problems could arise.

Specializes in Hospice, corrections, psychiatry, rehab, LTC.

I find it much easier to simply avoid discussing work at all on Facebook. If you say nothing, there is no room for interpretation by your employer or anyone else.

Specializes in Hospice,LTC,Pacu,Regulatory,Operating room.

no.but you should not post work related things about patients on social media. especially deaths.

Specializes in Specializes in L/D, newborn, GYN, LTC, Dialysis.

If and when I post about work (RARE) it's never anything less than positive. And I rarely do that anyhow. Anyone can screen-shoot what you say and spin it.

Best not to go there ever.

Ugh better just not to post it. Is it that critical to somebody's life to post something about work on facebook?

Specializes in corrections and LTC.

I worked with a nurse a few years ago who lived on her phone. Facebook was her friend and she posted way

too many times per day. She posted selfies with patients in the background, with protected health informa-

tion in the background that could be read when the screen was enlarged, mentioned patients by first name,

etc. Because I was her FB friend, and saw or had the ability to see her posts, I was afraid I would get a

HIPAA violation. I reported her multiple times to administration but they did nothing. I not only unfriended

her but I blocked her. I now do not add anyone I work with as a FB friend, and my FB never states where

I currently work.

Specializes in Critical Care, Emergency Department, Informatics.

I did my Master's thesis on HIPAA and the Electronic Medical Record. It is not a violation unless the patient can be identified. However, there are many organizations that do not allow any postings about work on social media.

I have a blog, and I get most of my ideas to write on from the job. However, I always change the names and the scenario. For example, we had a patient who coded and was resuscitated, and was put on a hyperthermic protocol. I took that opportunity to write about the hypothermic protocol.

I make it a habit not to post anything about my job on social media.

Whether it’s HIPAA or not, posting that is not appropriate for social media. All that does is give a shout out from you looking for attention. If it’s something you need to talk about, then discuss it privately with coworkers or request a debriefing at work .

1 Votes
On 10/7/2018 at 3:58 PM, Wuzzie said:

No. But you should really just take it down. It's quite possible it could turn into one if people start offering up information and since it's your post you're responsible for it. Really. Just take it down and refrain from posting about work/patients at all.

This is actually a HIPAA violation, especially if the poster has where they work on their Facebook page. HIPAA doesn't require the mention of a name...just enough information where the patient can be identified.

Example:

Small Town Memorial Hospital has a 73 year old woman that died on December 1st named Sharon Smith.

Obituaries for that week in the local paper only shows one death for December 1st that took place at Small Town Memorial Hospital.

Susan, RN has on her Facebook page she works as a nurse at Small Town Memorial Hospital.

Susan, RN posts she had a death of a patient "last night" which would have been December 1st.

It wouldn't take much to figure out Susan, RN took care of Sharon Smith at Small Town Memorial hospital and this was her patient she was referring that died on December 1st.

I live in an area small enough area where this is a major problem. The hospital now gives your first warning as your final and a second violation results in your termination. They have addressed this over and over again to the point they have zero patience.

1 Votes
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