jhoilman

Collaboration is a valuable skill in the workplace. It's great to see that you are learning the art of working together towarDS a common goal early on in your education. Kudos to you and your nursing faculty.

Nursing school administrators do a great job telling students and faculty what not to do with social media, but what about what can be done with social media? Do you model positive social media use? Does your program include curriculum that addresses the use of social media by nursing students?

You should check your specific place of employment's social media and fraternization policies. Many places strictly prohibit the "friending" of patients and staff.

I think you make a great point. Students may overshare. Their nursing faculty mentors need to teach and model appropriate therapeutic communication between nurses and patients. Connecting with patients anywhere, not only social media, usually violates some policies of the hospitals.

You're right, not just proprietary school lack national nursing accreditation. Many community colleges also do not have nationally accredited nursing programs. More than likely it's because the accrediting process is very expensive. I also would argue the point that just because there may not be a national nursong accreditation, there is not a lack of legitimacy as the original poster suggested. Each program must be approved by the state Board of nursing where the school is located. I would venture to say the BON approval would legitimize any program. Also some colleges have regional, university wide accreditations such as accreditation from the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools. This allows students to transfer credits. Nursing credits are difficult to transfer regardless of accrediting if no degree was awarded.

I agree with the previous poster who pointed out that it's not social media that ruining lives. The people who choose to posted unprofessional pictures or words are sealing their own fate. Question: do you think the general population belIeves social media is benign and without consequences? if so, why? Do you feel that it is fair to be judged by a peer or employer based on you activities on social media?

Remember that you can untag yourself in pictures and you can block users from posting on your account. Maybe you don't need to delete you acxount. You could learn more about your settings and privacy options, as well as monitor your page.

When you engage in any social media you have to monitor yourself and others. Like a previous poster said if a friend posted something inappropriate, she would delete it. It is possible to have a social media that helps your career. Social media such as Linkedin.com has the possibility of putting a positive image of its users out there for employers. The most important thing is that if you choose to create social media profiles, you need to be well informed and willing to monitor your accounts.

So this nurse was fired without warning. She may have signed a social media policy statement stating different things she would not do on social media (i.e. post pictures of the hospital), but even if she didn't sign anything it's still a HIPAA violation. Do you think we do a good job of modeling correct behavior on social media? Or maybe we do a better job of punishing people when they do something bad on social media. Social media is here to stay and I believe that instead of telling nurses what cannot be posted on social media, we should teach nurses what is acceptable to post. Nursing for many is an identity and it may be very hard to separate their work life and personal life on social media. Maybe we should do a better job to teaching and positive role modeling and less punishing.

I agree that Linkedin.com woould be a better choice for professional correspondence and networking.

Facebook and social media goes both ways. It can be a career breaker and a career builder. Social media e-professionalism is important every time you put yourself out there on social media.

I don't know if you are a rule follower or not, but in the agreement that you electronically signed in order to utilize Facebook, you explicitly agreed to use you given name. Aliases are not permitted on Facebook and are grounds for dismissal. I realize this is difficult to police, but I just thought I would mention it.

Social media albeit 10 years young, is still an up and coming technology. Social media can be used for both good and bad. It's very important to be and informed consumer. You all referenced the negative of social media and someone even said that their page is very "vanilla". Remember, there is social media out there (Linkedin.com) that is professional in at least intent. Social media may also serve professionals well and advance their career if used properly.

Great links. Thank you! Social media e-professionalism and specifically HIPAA can be a very slippery slope. It;s very important to be not only an informed consumer of social media, but also an informed poster on social media.

Social media e-professionalism can be a slippery slop. Dr. Jeff Cain and colleagues have authored great articles for educators and professionals defining e-professionalism. I believe that it's important to know what not to do, but it may be more important to model professional behavior on social media to to serve as positive examples for others.