I ran onto this article where a Canadian nursing board is punishing an RN for posting on her private Facebook page about care her Grandfather received at a hospital, where she DID NOT work at, charging her with Professional Misconduct.
I personally think nursing boards have to much control over what happens in our personal lives.
In February 2015, Prince Albert nurse Carolyn Strom posted a news article about end-of-life care on her personal Facebook page and then commented about the subpar care†her grandfather had received at a Macklin health facility. The post was brought to the attention of staff there, who filed a complaint with the Saskatchewan Registered Nurses Association (SRNA).
Strom defended herself at a two-day hearing in Regina this past February — the SRNA's first disciplinary hearing about nurses' behaviour on social media. She argued the SRNA's code of ethics did not apply to her when she posted on Facebook because she was not part of her grandfather's health care team and wrote the post on a personal page. She said it's important for people to discuss health care issues and argued her right to free speech would be violated if she was found guilty of professional misconduct.
The SRNA disagreed.
In a written decision published this fall, the SRNA pointed out that the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms is not absolute. It also stated that courts across Canada have found regulated professionals guilty of professional misconduct because of things they have done in their private lives.
Pending the outcome of a penalty hearing that has not yet been scheduled, Strom could be expelled or suspended from the SRNA or face some other form of sanction, such as a fine.
Strom's lawyer, Marcus Davies, said he will appeal the decision after the penalty hearing.
(The SRNA) have over-punished, over-sanctioned and responded inappropriately to a discussion on health care and they have held (Strom) to a standard that I think few of us would expect ever to be held to. You can't comment on your own grandparent?†he said.
If you remove nurses from a discussion of health care — which this decision effectively does — nurses will be reluctant or frightened to engage in a frank discussion of health care in public. Then you've made the discussion less valuable.â€
If the decision stands, it could have repercussions for other self-regulating professions such as doctors, accountants and lawyers, Davies said.
The SRNA said Strom, who identified herself as a nurse in her Facebook post, harmed the reputation of nursing staff at the Macklin facility, which runs contrary to the SRNA's broad code of ethics.
Specializes in CCU, SICU, CVSICU, Precepting & Teaching.
What do you think, can a family member self-identify as an RN on Facebook and then give a negative opinion as to the care given?
I heard about the story concerning the Canadian nurse who posted on Facebook regarding her grandfather's care. She identified herself as a nurse and expressed her opinion regarding the care. This got her into hot water with the Canadian nurses regulatory body.
In my opinion, this is wrong, I don't think this squelching of free speech serves the common good.
Absolutely a family member can self identify as an RN on Facebook and then give an opinion about the care given. Whether it's smart or not is a different story. In the US, it's more likely to get you into trouble with your employer than with the regulatory body, but it's still not smart.
is up to speed†on how to approach end of life care . . .
Or how to help maintain an Ageing Senior's Dignity
(among other things!) So . . . I challenge the people
involved in decision making with that facility, to please
get All Your Staff a refresher on this topic AND More.
. . . to those who made last years less than
desirable, Please Do Better Next Time!. . . And a
caution to anyone that has loved ones at the facility
mentioned above: keep an eye on things and report
anything you Do Not Like! That's the only way to get
some things to change. The fact that I have to ask
people, who work in health care, to take a step back
and be more compassionate, saddens me more than you
know!â€
. . . And this has been an ongoing struggle with the
often subpar care given to X
(especially ) for many years now . . . Hence my
effort to bring more public attention to it (As not much
else seems to be working).
As an RN and avid health care advocate myself, I just
HAVE to speak up! Whatever reasons/excuses people
give for not giving quality care, I Do Not Care. It.
Just. Needs. To. Be. Fixed. And NOW!â€
. . . Why do you do your job?†Do you actually care
about the people you WORK FOR/Care For?†Or is it
JUST A JOB, WITH A PAYCHEQUE?†. . . If so,
maybe it's time to take a step back.
Either way I just want (and everyone
else in that facility) to be treated well, ALWAYS!â€
It might have been different had she offered a specific and reasoned critique of the care provided, but instead she made vague but severe accusations that appeared to imply gross negligence of specific nurses, without any sort of argument to actually support that, which is pretty clearly unprofessional conduct.
I disagree with the SRNA's understanding of what the current best practice is for communicating patient safety concerns in their argument that she should have followed a chain of command, but generally slanderous treatment of other nurses when publicly naming them isn't completely tolerated by nursing boards in the US either.
Specializes in CCU, SICU, CVSICU, Precepting & Teaching.
Tough and rough crowd LOL.
I just completely disagree. It was her FB page and she should be able to say what she wants without repercussions. What she said was not anything that did not ring true and why shouldn't she be able to give her opinion as formed by her education and professional experiences. The facility can rebut however they wish on their own FB page.
It all rings true to me and fair and balanced.
I think employers and professional organizations need to step back and get out of peoples personal business. It had nothing to do with anything but her own families experience of care and for all we know she did take it to the facility administration and got no satisfaction.
She is not their employee so she should be able to say what she wishes.
More and more often the line is becoming blurred between a persons personal and professional life and how much their professional organization and/or employer can involve themselves. I don't see it ending well. I did not give up all my rights when I became a nurse.
And 99.5% of my FB posts are about my dogs lol.
One IS allowed to say anything they want on Facebook -- no one is sitting around reviewing posts and editing or quashing them between the time you hit the "Post" button and when it shows up online. However being free to express your opinion is different from being free from the consequences of having expressed that opinion. The government isn't going to haul you away and imprison, torture or execute you -- but you will face consequences.
If she had criticized the care without playing the "I'm an RN" card, the consequences may well have been very different.
Exactly Ruby. You can say whatever you like on facebook, including criticizing the care provided.
The fact that she identified as an RN got her in hot water. Some of those nurses got wind of her post and reported her to SRNA. They were then obligated to investigate.
It isn't only the SRNA. If I made a similar post on FB, I would run the risk of being reported to CARNA (Alberta's licensing body) and face similar disciplinary action.
Does anyone know how to get an alert off their (NJ) RN application? I'm a travel nurse and every time I change agencies I have to give them an explanation of why it is there. My license is in good standing though. I'd appreciate any assistance. I'm writing on this thread because it was about disciplinary action. Sorry if wrong thread. Never wrote in before.
Sounds like the Board has drawn more negative attention to the hospital and staff by their involvement, creating more attention than a Facebook post ever could. The nurse was dissatisfied and frustrated and vented, quite normal. The Board appears to have sullied everyone, including themselves.
This nurse probably had no idea that her iresponsible social media ranting could get her in so much trouble and all new nursing students, as well as current nurses should have a class in the proper use of social media as licensed professionals.
Ms. Strom identified herself as an RN setting herself up as an expert in the public eye, then made negative comments about an institution and it's providers. This holds more weight than Joe Unsatisfied Consumer posting on FB. She made comments about what she "heard" from family members. Really? He was in the facility for one week and she lived 3-1/2 hours away, resulting in infrequent visits. Her posts were punitive and attention-seeking, and now she has the attention, but not what she expected.
A word to all U.S. health care professionals: Stop and Think before you post. You may have free speech, but you will never know why you didn't get that job you so badly wanted and for which you were technically qualified.
I hear over and over that Canada has a nationalized health care system. NO IT DOESN'T! STOP LISTENING TO PEOPLE WHO DON'T BELIEVE IN HEALTH CARE FOR EVERYONE and do a little homework. We are nurses and know how to do research.
The question was asked "would a physician posting on facebook face the same consequences?" (paraphrased). A physician would not be posting these types of comments on FB about a hospital or colleagues (they are your colleagues even if you work for a different institution), unless he/she has something going cognitively wrong.
As nurses, we must not think so highly of our abilities, that we don't hesitate to publicly humiliate our colleagues.
A huge chunk of posters basically write that social media is an inappropriate†venue for voicing complaints... so therefore she deserves to be charged with professional misconduct and lose her career?? That's the implications of these posts. It was in poor taste to post on Facebook... so she should suffer the consequences!â€
Nurses, just like everyone else, have a right to personal lives. In those personal lives, they have the right to vent on social media. People post phony news stories on social media, use hate speech on social media, stalk people on social media, and are massive stupid jerks on social media every day -- why should nurses be any different? We get to be stupid, mean, dishonest, and jerky just like everyone else. The key being: in our personal lives. In this case, this was firmly 100% in this nurse's personal life. This was not her employer, not her patient, and not about something she did professionally. She should not face professional sanction for voicing her opinions, right or wrong, in poor taste or otherwise.
This is complete overreach by the SRNA. If this decision stands, I hope she sues them and wins – not just for her, but for all Canadian nurses. Because this is tyranny.
Here were the charges†made by the SRNA:
1. Failure to follow proper channels: In their decision, the SRNA literally wrote that before she could publicly criticize, she had to notify, in order, the individual care providers, their manager, the director of the facility, the health board of the facility, the health board of the region, andtheminister. It is only if all of those efforts have not led to a positive change would you be able… to take the matter to the public.†Let me start by saying that, prior to writing this post, I read the Canadian Nurses Association Code of Ethics. Nowhere in it does it say that, if you are a nurse, you are not allowed to complain about anything in healthcare publicly without notifying all the above persons first. Also, note that she didn't write about seeing anything illegal; if she had, she would have a duty to report. That's not the case here.
2. Impact on reputation of facility and staff: First of all, she did not give the names of any staff members. Secondly, the SRNA failed to provide, or even attempt to provide, any evidence that her comments had any impact – positive or negative – on the reputation of the facility or staff. In a court, you would have to provide some evidence of a negative impact. They didn't even try. They literally just quoted a couple of her negative comments.
3. Failure to first obtain all the facts: The SRNA writes that You have made public your conclusions without first having obtained all of the relevant facts [directly from the facility and the care providers].†Really? Also not in the Code of Ethics. So, before a private citizen who happens to be a nurse in her professional life can post opinions on Facebook, like people do every day, she has to conduct interviews of all the persons involved? How would she even do that? And why would this be her personal responsibility? She's not the police, and she's not responsible for investigating, after the fact, what happened at her grandfather's facility in his last days. Sure, we'd all like to think that we think carefully before we post, and try to have a balanced perspective, and try to be in possession of all the facts… but a brief, five-minute perusal of social media will quickly show you that this never happens. And we don't go around finding ways to punish people because they didn't get all the facts before they posted. If we did, a certain president elect would not be.
4. Using status of registered nurse for personal purposes: I'd love to tell you the meat of this argument, but I can't, because the paragraph following it doesn't substantiate it. So I will attack it at face value. First of all, nowhere in the Code of Ethics does it say that a nurse should not identify herself as such; you could actually argue the opposite, that in healthcare-related discussions, people have an ethical duty to disclose their profession. Secondly, she in no way profited from this post. In order to say that she used†her status as RN for personal purposes,†you would have to make an argument that she in some way personally gained from her social media posts, or at least attempted to. Not only did they fail to make this argument, I don't see any way that they could have. In her posts, she refers to herself as a health care advocate†and calls on the staff to please do better next time!†Her motives seem pure: she is grieving, frustrated at what she perceives to be inadequate care, and hoping that by speaking up she can effect change. She could be 100% wrong; that wouldn't change the fact that she was not using her licensure status inappropriately for personal gain.
Having finished reading the DECISION of the DISCIPLINE COMMITTEE of the SASKATCHEWAN REGISTERED NURSES' ASSOCIATION†in the case of Carolyn M. Strom, I can tell you that it's a sanctimonious, unsubstantiated, finger-wagging piece of crap.
We are all well aware of the potential repercussions of social media. Time after time, there are similar disciplinary accounts reported in our nursing magazines. IMO, it just isn't worth the risk. We have freedom of speech, but as another poster mentioned, there are consequences.
Another Canadian nurse said something very similar in this thread. I wonder if the real topic isn't the way that the Canadian BONs are overreaching. If they have Canadian nurses frightened to speak up about anything they see in healthcare under threat of losing their license, that is a real problem. A system where the largest profession in healthcare is effectively being silenced, not allowed to speak up about problems within healthcare, is very dangerous and frightening. For nurses and for the public.
To paraphrase Mr. Davies, if nurses can't speak out about problems in the healthcare system, who can?
Exactly. You don't have to agree with this particular nurse or think what she did was wise – I personally do not make posts like this with my real name – but you should be able to recognize the potential ramifications of her silencing.
A huge chunk of posters basically write that social media is an inappropriate†venue for voicing complaints... so therefore she deserves to be charged with professional misconduct and lose her career?? That's the implications of these posts. It was in poor taste to post on Facebook... so she should suffer the consequences!â€
Nurses, just like everyone else, have a right to personal lives. In those personal lives, they have the right to vent on social media. People post phony news stories on social media, use hate speech on social media, stalk people on social media, and are massive stupid jerks on social media every day -- why should nurses be any different? We get to be stupid, mean, dishonest, and jerky just like everyone else. The key being: in our personal lives. In this case, this was firmly 100% in this nurse's personal life. This was not her employer, not her patient, and not about something she did professionally. She should not face professional sanction for voicing her opinions, right or wrong, in poor taste or otherwise.
This is complete overreach by the SRNA. If this decision stands, I hope she sues them and wins – not just for her, but for all Canadian nurses. Because this is tyranny.
Here were the charges†made by the SRNA:
1. Failure to follow proper channels: In their decision, the SRNA literally wrote that before she could publicly criticize, she had to notify, in order, the individual care providers, their manager, the director of the facility, the health board of the facility, the health board of the region, andtheminister. It is only if all of those efforts have not led to a positive change would you be able… to take the matter to the public.†Let me start by saying that, prior to writing this post, I read the Canadian Nurses Association Code of Ethics. Nowhere in it does it say that, if you are a nurse, you are not allowed to complain about anything in healthcare publicly without notifying all the above persons first. Also, note that she didn't write about seeing anything illegal; if she had, she would have a duty to report. That's not the case here.
2. Impact on reputation of facility and staff: First of all, she did not give the names of any staff members. Secondly, the SRNA failed to provide, or even attempt to provide, any evidence that her comments had any impact – positive or negative – on the reputation of the facility or staff. In a court, you would have to provide some evidence of a negative impact. They didn't even try. They literally just quoted a couple of her negative comments.
3. Failure to first obtain all the facts: The SRNA writes that You have made public your conclusions without first having obtained all of the relevant facts [directly from the facility and the care providers].†Really? Also not in the Code of Ethics. So, before a private citizen who happens to be a nurse in her professional life can post opinions on Facebook, like people do every day, she has to conduct interviews of all the persons involved? How would she even do that? And why would this be her personal responsibility? She's not the police, and she's not responsible for investigating, after the fact, what happened at her grandfather's facility in his last days. Sure, we'd all like to think that we think carefully before we post, and try to have a balanced perspective, and try to be in possession of all the facts… but a brief, five-minute perusal of social media will quickly show you that this never happens. And we don't go around finding ways to punish people because they didn't get all the facts before they posted. If we did, a certain president elect would not be.
4. Using status of registered nurse for personal purposes: I'd love to tell you the meat of this argument, but I can't, because the paragraph following it doesn't substantiate it. So I will attack it at face value. First of all, nowhere in the Code of Ethics does it say that a nurse should not identify herself as such; you could actually argue the opposite, that in healthcare-related discussions, people have an ethical duty to disclose their profession. Secondly, she in no way profited from this post. In order to say that she used†her status as RN for personal purposes,†you would have to make an argument that she in some way personally gained from her social media posts, or at least attempted to. Not only did they fail to make this argument, I don't see any way that they could have. In her posts, she refers to herself as a health care advocate†and calls on the staff to please do better next time!†Her motives seem pure: she is grieving, frustrated at what she perceives to be inadequate care, and hoping that by speaking up she can effect change. She could be 100% wrong; that wouldn't change the fact that she was not using her licensure status inappropriately for personal gain.
Having finished reading the DECISION of the DISCIPLINE COMMITTEE of the SASKATCHEWAN REGISTERED NURSES' ASSOCIATION†in the case of Carolyn M. Strom, I can tell you that it's a sanctimonious, unsubstantiated, finger-wagging piece of crap.
Another Canadian nurse said something very similar in this thread. I wonder if the real topic isn't the way that the Canadian BONs are overreaching. If they have Canadian nurses frightened to speak up about anything they see in healthcare under threat of losing their license, that is a real problem. A system where the largest profession in healthcare is effectively being silenced, not allowed to speak up about problems within healthcare, is very dangerous and frightening. For nurses and for the public.
Exactly. You don't have to agree with this particular nurse or think what she did was wise – I personally do not make posts like this with my real name – but you should be able to recognize the potential ramifications of her silencing.
Any nurse has the right to identify themself as a nurse on social media, but naming a facility and complaining about the quality of care their family member received there is not without consequences particularly when facilities are named and staff members can be identified. As a licensed professional with legal, ethical, and professional responsibilities to the general public when providing nursing care, committing public actions in one's personal life that can harm the reputations and livelihood of others even though one is not at the time providing nursing care is, if the state Board of Nursing/applicable nursing regulatory authority becomes aware of these actions through a complaint, likely to result in the BON considering whether one's conduct is acceptable for a licensed nurse, as privacy laws and libel laws exist in regard to one's public actions. The BON's purpose is in part to protect the general public from nurses who do not conduct themselves professionally; a complaint was made by the entities affected and the BON has a duty to investigate.
If a nurse is with good reason unhappy with the quality of care their family member has received, there are available numerous appropriate recourses one can take to hold accountable the persons/facility involved and to prevent a similar situation happening again, which may be used without violating anyone's rights. If one is present at the time the substandard care is taking place, one can ask to talk to the Charge nurse or ask to speak with a manager, or can call a Rapid Response if the facility makes it possible for patients/family members to do this; the point is that one is not without options to advocate for appropriate care of their family member or to stop an unsafe situation.
Ruby Vee, BSN
17 Articles; 14,051 Posts
Absolutely a family member can self identify as an RN on Facebook and then give an opinion about the care given. Whether it's smart or not is a different story. In the US, it's more likely to get you into trouble with your employer than with the regulatory body, but it's still not smart.