Social Media and Doxxing - Your Thoughts???

[traumaRUs]

So, I first had to look up "doxxing" which is to publicly identify or publish private information about (someone) especially as a form of punishment or revenge.

This recently came up when I read about Joshua Strickland, an RN in Louisianna who posted a selfie at the end of his first day on a new job in which he BLURRED out parts of his name tag. He vaguely mentioned a comment from a patient he had cared for that day without revealing any identifying information. He posted it to a FB group and it went viral as so many nurses could identify with his sentiment.

However, out of the thousands of supportive comments he received there was someone who felt a need to report it. So, they utilized technology to "unblur" his name tag and then reported it to his hospital.

He was fired and is currently unemployed.

So....what are your thoughts on this?

Is it okay to post selfies regarding work situations?

How about the person who reported it?

Do you know your facility policy?

[L-ICURN, BSN, RN]

Reading all these comments reminds me of an incident with a former employer. They fired a new hire after she had been there for all of 2 days because she posted on facebook that she was bored with orientation. That's it. They showed us the offending post. She said orientation was boring. They fired her that day and made her not eligible for rehire. That's just how far some employers take this social media punishment. No HIPAA violation. No personal identifiers. Hadn't even met a patient yet. That cinched it for me. No work online because they're always watching.

[Meriwhen, ASN, BSN, MSN, RN]

On 9/18/2019 at 4:40 AM, Nurse SMS said:

He posted this to a group that had over 270K members. Both the individual and his employer were easily identifiable. It is entirely possible/likely that nobody "reported" him and that people in his organization saw it for themselves.

Those were my thoughts. Given how big social media has become, it's not unheard of for companies--not just hospitals--to have people placed in social media groups to monitor for these sort of things.

[Nurse SMS, MSN, RN]

We had a new grad accept a residency position with us, then post on social media that they were concerned they were "settling" by accepting the position (med-surg). We were considering rescinding the offer based on that. Fortunately for that individual they got another offer more to their liking at a different institution. Hope it all works out because they certainly burned a bridge here.

[SmilingBluEyes]

We don't even know it was a nurse who doxxed him. Could have been anyone. What a jerk move if you ask me.

That group you refer to has a lot of trolls who are clearly non-nurses posting there. It could have been anyone. A coworker or a weirdo stranger (who may or may not be a nurse)----looking to make someone miserable.

We don't know who did this. But it's a reminder how social media is used to do anything an employer wants to their staff.

[ruby_jane, BSN, RN]

@traumaRUs - this is why we can't have nice things....

I appreciate this discussion, though.

Ruby Jane Jr. schools me all the time. Don't post a picture of your drink, momma. Someone will see it (even thought all my settings are private). She's probably right.

[traumaRUs, MSN, APRN]

18 hours ago, hherrn said:

I agree with your rationale and general sentiment. I disagree strongly that the institution had no choice but to fire him. They could have warned him disciplined him, used his case to educate others.... No question he screwed up, but I do think there there are more positive ways to deal with this than fire him

Right. I wonder what education he had about social media and the facility

[Lunah, MSN, RN]

35 minutes ago, traumaRUs said:

Right. I wonder what education he had about social media and the facility

Probably the usual warnings about HIPAA, but maybe not as much about keeping up appearances. Though savvy companies are getting pretty specific about social media etiquette!

[futurepsychrn, ADN]

On 9/19/2019 at 11:05 AM, Waiting for Retirement said:

I shudder to think what anyone from "the public" would think if they could be a fly on the wall of any break room of any nursing unit I've ever worked on!

And that will be next! It's a slippery slope. If anyone thinks that the corporations won't start monitoring what is said in the privacy of break rooms and such they need to wake up and smell the coffee. This is where our country is headed friends.

[L-ICURN, BSN, RN]

2 hours ago, futurepsychrn said:

And that will be next! It's a slippery slope. If anyone thinks that the corporations won't start monitoring what is said in the privacy of break rooms and such they need to wake up and smell the coffee. This is where our country is headed

I once told a coworker that I was "tired of this crap." I was in management's office the next day.

[RNNPICU, BSN, RN]

7 minutes ago, L-ICURN said:

I once told a coworker that I was "tired of this crap." I was in management's office the next day.

I am sure it was not to check to make sure you were okay.

[Rose_Queen, BSN, MSN, RN]

3 hours ago, futurepsychrn said:

And that will be next! It's a slippery slope. If anyone thinks that the corporations won't start monitoring what is said in the privacy of break rooms and such they need to wake up and smell the coffee. This is where our country is headed friends.

Well, technically they own the property. After all, they can search our lockers too because they own them. Break room =\= private.

[JadedCPN, BSN, RN]

4 hours ago, futurepsychrn said:

And that will be next! It's a slippery slope. If anyone thinks that the corporations won't start monitoring what is said in the privacy of break rooms and such they need to wake up and smell the coffee. This is where our country is headed friends.

I wouldn’t assume I had any privacy in any part of a facility I worked in except for the bathroom.