Social Media Etiquette - Is there a place for healthcare professionals?

Social media can be effective in bringing to light subjects that require change. Draws the question of what is appropriate for professionals when posting online? How far can one step before it is seen as unprofessional? Social Media etiquette, what are the do's and don'ts?

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Social media is everywhere we look today. I grew up in a time when cell phones were not common, you had to use a payphone to call home, you came home when it was getting dark from playing outside not because your mother texted you, you had face to face time with friends and families when you needed to socialize or tell someone what you did. Organizations and companies have had to develop policies and procedures surrounding expectations of their employees or members on appropriate content to post or blog about. While Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Instagram are popular sites for social networking, my Code of Ethics within the College of Nurses of Manitoba (CRNM) has set out specific guidelines and expectations for all types of online content. So even if it is considered a private or personal communication, we are still held to a higher standard of practice. The way we are to look at it is, if we identify ourselves as being a nurse with in the online platform we are considered to be using the title and may be subject to the standards of the college. We are also to consider when posting online, ask ourselves would we do or say the same if we were doing it in person?

Now saying that, as nurses, but also our own person, we are able to advocate and have the right to express our own opinion. We have every right to our political, social and personal opinions and are entitled to present these to the public how we see fit. However we do always have to be conscious of “sharing confidential information online, posting any comments or blogs about clients, coworkers or colleagues (e.g. identifying a client by name, nickname, diagnosis or room number), distributing sexually explicit material, pursuing personal relationships with clients or service users, using social networking sites to bully and/or intimidate clients, colleagues or co-workers, and engaging in any other behavior that is interpreted as a breach in the practice expectations or code of ethics” (College of Registered Nurses of Manitoba, 2018). I think that if you really want to institute change you need to get in and speak up at and to the levels of government or to the organizations that hold the power to make those changes. Social media can help influence public awareness and publicize that change is needed. I do have an obligation to uphold my professional values and code of ethics when I am on social media and to always remember to keep in mind that anyone could be reading what I post.

I have always been conscious of my online presence. I try to stay very neutral. Is this a good thing? Probably to a degree but is it also silencing me to a degree? I even go as far to hide posts of people I may be friends with if they post something I am not align with so that others do not think that is my opinion as well just because I am friends with them. We used to live in Alaska and right now with the current situation in the United States it is a hot pot of political drama. Many of my friends from Alaska are Republicans and Trump supporters. I have refrained from liking posts or commenting on them as I do not agree with much of what is going on right now, but I haven’t spoken up about it. Does that make it right? Partly because they are my friends and they have a right to their opinion, but also it comes back to my fear of my online presence. This is something I am going to have to figure out, whether I want a personal or professional presence online or a combination of both. Just to note, in my job as a nurse consultant I am the biggest advocate for my patients and their rights especially in my role in Jordan’s Principle and the inequities that are faced in the North for the First Nations people, so why can I do this in person but not online? I will have to continue to work and become more comfortable with posting versus just scrolling through posts on the online platforms I use.

College of Nurses of Manitoba (2018) Social Media and Social Networking. Retrieved January 14, 2021 from https://www.crnm.mb.ca/uploads/document/document_file_202.pdf?t=1527774636