Electronic and Social Media - Essay Example

 I personally use social media so as to connect with both friends and family around the world, social media provides me with a cheap avenue through which I can be able to cheaply and easily connect with my friends in real-time, however, after reading the article posted on Medscape about nurses and the use of social media, I have come to realize that any posts on social media that I make concerning my patients regardless of just how innocent they might be or how private I might perceive them to be can actually result in my infringing of patient confidentiality and privacy.

I have also learned that nothing on social media is ever private and a single post can be forwarded to numerous individuals resulting in a serious breach of nursing ethics. As a result of reading this article, I have learned that forwarding inappropriate e-mail can result in a patient violation and will therefore never again forward any e-mail that I might deem to be inappropriate. Instead, I will always inform the proper authorities in the event that I happen to come across such e-mails so that appropriate actions can be taken.

Social media has a number of benefits that including the transmission of messages to people around the world so as to enable them to learn what is happening in real-time. Social media can also be used by doctors so as to inform the family of a patient on the progress of a procedure as is illustrated by the doctors who conducted a double hand surgery in a lengthy procedure but kept on tweeting updates on the progress for the family to read (Kappel & Spector, 2). Social media can also be used by nurses to share workplace experiences which can provide invaluable lessons to all nurses.

  Reading the article has caused me to understand that as a nurse one can never be too careful on the use of social media and it is best to always check to ensure that any activity that one engages in on social media does not in any way violate any of the laid down nursing best practices and ethics.