Potential Ethical Issues Concerned with the Nursing Use of Social Media

Potential Ethical Issues Concerned with the Nursing Use of Social Media
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Potential Ethical Issues Concerned With the Nursing Use of Social Media
Social media networks or platforms possess great potential for strengthening professional interactions, relationships, and the dissemination of crucial health information. However, the inappropriate use of social media platforms amongst nurses has become an issue of concern. The misuse of social media has worried regulators, nursing educators, employers, and nursing organizations. Some of the ethical and fundamental breaches include violation of privacy rights and contravention of professional expectations. This paper will discuss ethical and professional issues in nursing that fall into the realm of social media use.
Ethics deals with what is considered good or bad, in a mix of moral duty and obligation. Public health ethics revolve around the specific moral questions relating to public interventions that are aimed at disease prevention, psychological or physical well-being (Denecke et al., 2015). The ethical principles apply in online health research and information too.
Social media is a terminology that espouses diverse online applications and software that allow users to interact, author, and create content for other online users (Lachman, 2013). Examples of social media networking platforms include Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. Social media platforms can be linked with websites and blogs, making it possible to disseminate information across multiple platforms. The liberalism of social media presents grave challenges to professionalism and privacy rights. Since social media remains poorly regulated, nursing professionals are likely to do self-disclosures and violate confidentiality laws (Lachman, 2013). It is alarming to read about professional nurses or student nurses who discuss patients’ condition on social media platforms, with identifiable personal information. Such actions violate the nurse-client relationship. Social media platforms are fertile ground for privacy rights violations; this can lead to possible litig...