The purpose of this assignment is to evaluate personal and professional accountability in the context
The purpose of this assignment is to evaluate personal and professional accountability in the context of social media. Social media plays a significant role in modern society and is now a common tool used by individuals and organizations alike to evaluate a person’s values, authenticity, and reputation. Additionally, social media is now considered a mainstream part of the process for recruiting and hiring candidates for employment. Inappropriate or unprofessional conduct on social media can pose legal problems for nurses as well as damage public trust in nursing.
For this assignment, log-in to each social media platform for which you have an account. Review your profile and most recent activity including pictures and posts. If you do not have a social media account, access one of the following social media platforms in order to view the social media posts and activities of others: Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, TikTok. Reflect on the information and content you and others post on a daily basis.
In 500-750 words, summarize your findings. Include the following in your summary:
- Describe the posts, conversations, and images you evaluated.
- Does the activity on social media appear to align with your personal values and the professional values of your discipline?
- Would family, friends, and colleagues consider the posts, conversations, and images authentic and representative of who you are as unique individuals?
- Does the activity on social media respect the human value and dignity of others as reflected in Christian values?
- Discuss why nurses have a responsibility to uphold a standard of conduct consistent with professional values, regulatory requirements, and workplace policies in both personal and professional interactions. Include a discussion of how personal conduct can violate the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) of 1996 or be considered unethical and unprofessional. Provide an example to support your answer.
Prepare this assignment according to the guidelines found in the APA Style Guide, located in the Student Success Center.
This assignment uses a rubric. Please review the rubric prior to beginning the assignment to become familiar with the expectations for successful completion.
You are required to submit this assignment to LopesWrite. A link to the LopesWrite technical support articles is located in Class Resources if you need assistance.
American Association of Colleges of Nursing Core Competencies for Professional Nursing Education
This assignment aligns to AACN Core Competencies 6.1, 8.1, 8.5, 9.1, 9.3, 9.4, 9.5, 10.2.
Expert Answer and Explanation
Professional Accountability Reflection
Social media has become part and parcel of today’s life, allowing users to interact with friends, family, and the public in general. Using social media as a nursing professional requires prudence to ensure that the guidelines that govern the profession are upheld. Otherwise, the integrity of the nurse and the safety of the patient can be put in jeopardy. This paper is a self-reflection on my use of social media and an analysis of whether it aligns with professional values.
Description of Posts
After reviewing my different social posts and conversations, I realized that most of them are focused more on my personal than my professional life. I often try to avoid engaging in conversation that will lead me to violate the image that represents my professional practice. I also use my subscribed social media platforms to share any information concerning health promotion initiatives that are shared either from my workplace or other credible sources, governmental and non-governmental.
It is one of the ways that I find most effective in providing useful information to my friends and family on matters health, some of which save them a lot of money and time by knowing when and where to access certain health services like free vaccinations.
Alignment with Personal Values
Conversations within the social media space can sometimes become unrestrictive, leading to unprofessional conduct. That is why, at all times, especially for persons serving in healthcare, maintaining professionalism is crucial to being accountable to our patients and the organizations we serve. From the analysis of the posts on the social media account, I find them to align with my professional values, some of which include not discussing patients in my posts, upholding the culture of evidence-based practice when sharing information concerning health initiatives, and separating from conversations that may demean my character as a person and a professional in healthcare.
Authenticity of Conversations
While it is also good to always remain vigil when posting on our social media accounts, at times, it becomes difficult to dissociate our social media posts from our personal lives. The posts from my accounts are a representation of who I am, my cultural background, and my profession as a nurse; attributes which I highly value. I believe that my family, friends, and colleagues would find my conversations on my social media platform authentic and representative of my unique attributes.
Respect for Human Values and Dignity
As nurses, our social media posts should capture attributes that reflect our professional code of ethics, including protecting human values and dignity (Booth et al., 2021). These are values that are also embedded as part of the Christian beliefs. Some of the ways my posts on social media portray these attributes include respecting patient confidentiality and privacy by not sharing any costs that will depict their vulnerability.
Another way that my posts capture Christian values is by treating all my audience with respect in conversations, and when sharing professional information, making sure that it is factual, helpful, and respects all persons regardless of their cultural, educational, or spiritual backgrounds.
Standard of Conduct When Using Social Media
Nurses have to uphold at all times a high standard of conduct consistent with professional values, regulatory requirements, and workplace policies in their personal and professional interactions. One reason is to safeguard their patients. When using social media platforms, nurses still operate under HIPPA laws, meaning that they should maintain patient privacy and confidentiality (Kanchan & Gaidhane, 2023).
Therefore, even when engaging on a personal level in their social media platforms, they should protect their patient’s confidentiality and privacy, and by extension, their dignity. Nurses should avoid taking pictures or posts of their patients or their workplace or sharing information in a way that it may expose the patients they are serving. Nurses also need to conduct themselves professionally as a way of enhancing trust in nurses.
Conclusion
Social media can be a strategic tool that can assist in health promotion. However, improper use can jeopardize nurse professionalism. Therefore, caution needs to be taken when engaging in social media. Nurses must understand that they are still bound by professional, organizational, and regulatory standards when engaging with the public using their social media pages.
References
Booth, R. G., Strudwick, G., McBride, S., O’Connor, S., & Solano López, A. L. (2021). How the nursing profession should adapt for a digital future. The BMJ, 373, n1190. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.n1190
Kanchan, S., & Gaidhane, A. (2023). Social media role and its impact on public health: A narrative review. Cureus, 15(1), e33737. https://doi.org/10.7759/cureus.33737
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