Why do I even bother anymore?

[SionainnRN]

So lately there have been a couple of threads on reddit of nursing posing in their scrubs, at work and obviously on the clock. I've tried to let them know that while it's not a HIPAA violation it could be violating their hospitals social media policy and to be careful. And what response do I get? Oh you're a killjoy, mind your own business, there's nothing wrong with this, and you suck. Real mature response from other nurses.

So I guess no more trying to help out my fellow nurses. Hell I checked out one posters previous posts and she had even taken a picture of her pts aborted twin at 20 weeks. All in the name of fake internet posts. Some people make me sick to my stomach.

[T-Bird78]

You've warned them, they know the policy, that's all you can do.

[xoemmylouox, ASN, RN]

Some people are just morons.

[Meriwhen, ASN, BSN, MSN, RN]

You've done all you needed to do...and IMO, you didn't even need to do that. They're adults so if they prefer to drown because of their own foolishness, that's their problem and not yours.

If you feel like pursuing this further, you could always talk to their manager/supervisor...but as long as HIPAA isn't being violated, I wouldn't bother. You've got more important things to worry about.

[Elizabeth Renee]

I totally understand your frustrations. Someone on my FB works in the ED and posts photos occassionally of herself in the hospital and it annoys me. Two come to mind. One was of her and another nurse donning PPE and posing with a caption of, "Off once again to fight another code brown!" Another was of two people outside the hospital sitting on the sidewalk with a caption of, "Previous discharges or future patients, who knows!" obviously trying to allude that they are after drugs. And every now and then she will post status' that mock patients or look down on them in some way.

I just think it's rude and unprofessional. I hope that when I start working I don't begin to lose my empathy or compassion and become judgemental of my patients, let alone sharing visually/verbally with everyone on my FB...

[Esme12, ASN, BSN, RN]

All I can say is ...wow.

[hikernurse]

At a minimum, anything that is posted about my hospital that can potentially be perceived as not positive will lead to a meeting with your department manager, HR and admin. And from what I've heard, it's not a fun meeting! If one is lucky, one will walk out with disciplinary action, but a job. Some aren't so lucky. It's a really dumb move to do stuff like that.

[Alex Egan, LPN, EMT-B]

Well your first mistake is trying to police reddit. When your done there why don't you go to 4chan and tell them to behave. It's best to give up. Down that path lies madness.

[LadyFree28, BSN, LPN, RN]

I am curious as to why you feel to let these posters who are unprofessional get under your skin? Employers have ways of finding out what their employers are doing or saying about their organization and will find out about it. I say keep it moving, even if that means unfriending a few people or not visiting nursing sites that promote such activity.

[SionainnRN]

The reason I do try to warn them is because so many people aren't aware of the fact that pretty much every hospital has a social media policy. They think if they don't break HIPAA they can post anything they want. I did a bunch of presentations for my BON and a couple hospitals in my area so this is kind of my soapbox. But to be met with juvenile responses from supposedly professional nurses just angers me. I know I need to just let it go. And since most of this happens on Reddit, I don't know where these people work, unless I wanted to get all PI and try to enhance their IDs and other stuff they only do on CSI.

I just wish more people realized their hospitals have social media policies that prohibit work photos being posted because of the impact it could/would have on the company. Thanks for all your imput!

[vera4130]

Not all hospitals have strict policies though. One hospital I've been at had a strict no photos whatsoever policy. My current one though is not so strict. No pictures of patients - period. Family can't take any, although I'm sure it's different on certain units (L&D for example). My friends and I have taken pictures together at work, although it's typically in the break room. They aren't unprofessional and there's never any patients, charts, or boards in it.

I'm sure some people might appreciate the warning, but you don't know what their hospital's policy is either. Although the people stupid enough to post pictures of patients or visitors are probably beyond help.

[ThePrincessBride, MSN, RN, NP]

I would actually report the pictures of the aborted twins, if possible. That is disgusting behavior and worthy of having one's license revoked, in my opinion.