Positive And Negative Effects Of Social Media In Healthcare

Communication has been permanently changed by social media. A wide conceptual definition of social media, as cited in Ressler & Glazer (2010), is “The online and mobile accessible services that enable individuals to connect, collaborate, and share with others in real time.” Social media has an obvious influence on informal communication style and represents both possibility and liability for healthcare institutions. As cited in Bernhardt, Alber, & Gold (2014), “Social media provide healthcare professionals with tools to share information, to debate health care policy and practice issues, to promote health behaviors, to engage with the public, and to educate and interact with patients, caregivers, students, and colleagues.” It also presents challenges, including risks to information accuracy, organizational reputation, and individual privacy. Social media can be a very helpful in communicating among nurses and other healthcare providers while creating professional connections, and sharing experiences, but guidelines for appropriate use by healthcare providers are essential. Whether or not certain healthcare organization decides to use social media as a communications tool - social media policy still need to be implemented. Policies help establish an organization 's rules and expectations around social media.

“Facebook remains the most popular platform for those using just one social media site—fully 79% of those who use just one site report using Facebook. Most Facebook users are actively engaging with their networks on the site. As opposed to simply reading or viewing content, 65% of Facebook users frequently or sometimes share, post or comment on Facebook” (Duggan, Ellison, Lampe, et al, 2015). As discussed previously, privacy and confidentiality is a right that everyone has no matter what. Therefore, healthcare professional’s privacy and communication cannot be entered and examined however; rules and guidelines have been put into place to manage confidentiality in the healthcare setting. In 2003, these guidelines were manifested and are known as the Privacy Rules, which are controlled by HIPAA. These rules were established to safeguard personal identifiable health data, which include an individual’s date of birth, social security number, address, photographs that may identify the patient, and past and current medical history (U.S Department of Health and Human Services, 2006). HIPAA defines “individually identifiable health information” as information that is a subdivision of health data, including demographic information gathered from an individual and is generated or received by a health care provider, health plan, employer, or health care clearinghouse and connects to the previous, current or future physical or

We Can But Dare We: A Look into the Use of Social Media in Healthcare

HIPAA, otherwise known as the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, was enacted in 1996 which required organizations to devise methods to safeguard transfer and disclosure of personal health information (Shi, 2015). Protected health information (PHI) is any information about a patient’s health status that can be associated to a certain patient. HIPAA being the act that protects the spread of patient confidential information, can be violated on accident more than often. Social media, including Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Linked In, etc. has millions of users daily and users have the option to post or ‘tweet’ whatever they may want. Easily enough, HIPAA violations can occur through social media and the United States Department

Social media has taken over the way that we interact with one another. It is leading the way in which we communicate with family, friends, coworkers and strangers. It is also the way we keep up with our favorite celebrities and gossip. Social media and the use of smartphones are becoming more prevalent in business and the healthcare field as well. According to Pew Research Center, “62% of smartphone owners have used their phone in the past year to look up information about a health condition” (April, 2015). Technology, just like all things come with flaws

In the present culture of the United States, social media has had a major impact in American society. It has a profound influence and intertwined itself in almost every aspect of the average American’s life. It ranges from providing updates of location of a person(s), events, and sharing personal moments. Even different industries are utilizing social media as a platform for communication, information, and sales mediums. One industry, the health care field has seen a rise in the utilization of social media. For instance, an emerging population of physicians are using social media apps such as Snap Chat, Facebook, and YouTube to educate, display surgical, and medical procedures while being performed. In contrast, as there are positive aspects of utilizing social media, a negative trait of social media is invading and exposing individual’s privacy. As of recent, a New York licensed nurse had to surrender her nursing license and sentenced to 3 years of probation for “moral unfitness in the practice (Bowerman, 2016).” She took photos with her phone of two unconscious male patient’s genitalia and shared them with coworkers. This has become an increasing issue and as the utilization of social media in healthcare is increasing, many ethical issues are developing. For instance, the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) was passed for the adoption of a national standard for electronic health care transactions and code sets, unique health identifiers,

The rapid development of technology throughout modern society has initiated the widespread use of social networking. Social networking plays a positive role in healthcare when educating, communicating, or advertising. However, poor judgments have the power to turn this positive into negative and damage professional reputations. Griffith (2014) stresses the importance of understanding that protected health information is not a matter of open secrets. Whether a lawyer, doctor, nurse, or a secretary, it is important to avoid conditions that may influence the health and security of patients or clients, as well as their own professional reputation (Aylott, 2011). The Purpose of this paper is to explore the appropriate use of cell phones and social networking in healthcare and the importance of understanding the ethical boundaries between professional uses opposed to personal use.

* The advantages and disadvantages of using traditional, electronic, and social media for health care communication

With the social media craze and hospitals utilizing electronic medical records (EMR), there have been more reports of patient confidentiality breaches. It is as if HIPAA does not exist anymore. Many healthcare employees have been terminated for their social media post. Who would have thought posting a simple picture of a child you took care of on FaceBook could get you fired? Or simply stating something you experienced while wearing hospital paraphernalia could possibly get you terminated. These are just two commonly seen examples of HIPAA violations.

While using social media can be valuable to doctors and nurses, inappropriate use of these tools can be devastating to a health professional career. Here are some examples

With the advancement of modern technology, social media is increasingly finding use in healthcare delivery and management. Health professionals including doctors, nurses and therapists have adopted social media to communicate with their patients and for health sensitization. Social media can benefit healthcare delivery in a variety of ways including fostering professional connections, patient and community education and promoting communication with patients and families. On the other hand, use of social media in healthcare exposes patients’ data to breaches and leakages creating confidentiality issues. Misuse of patient data results in serious career penalties for negligent medical professionals. Protocols have been established to oversee the use of social medial by health practitioners. The paper seeks to explore the recognized rules that regulate the use of social media, and its risks and benefits. Health professionals should utilize benefits of social media while adhering to confidentiality, privacy, and ethical guidelines for private or professional communications with respect to patient data.

Facebook embraces the networking capabilities of the Internet by allowing individuals to connect with others through sharing of personal or professional information and interests. Professional sites can be set up by groups, organizations, and businesses. They can be completely separate from an individual’s personal Facebook page. Instead of ‘friends,’ a professional or organizational Facebook page has ‘fans’ or users who ‘like’ the page. This is an important distinction in the use of social media by healthcare professionals concerned with privacy or boundary issues. Twitter is considered a micro-blogging platform which means entries are limited to 140 characters. Twitter is the fastest growing social media platform because of its versatility and ability to quickly hyperlink to external sources of information. Again, individuals can have both a personal and a professional or organizational Twitter account. Both Facebook and Twitter are free applications, as are most social media tools, enabling a larger sector of the general public to be able to access these

The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) forces individuals and organization to realize that a patient’s data or the Patient Health information (PHI) is confidential. In her article, Sharpe, (2017), states “Examples of social media violations include posting verbal gossip about a patient (even if the name is not disclosed), sharing photographs or any form of PHI without written consent from the patient or guardian, mistakenly believing posts that are deleted can’t exist in cyberspace and sharing seemingly innocent pictures that have health-care information visible”.

The use of social media is widespread and ever increasing, at the beginning of the 3rd quarter of 2016 there is 1.79 billion active Facebook users and 2.34 billion social media users across all platforms (Statista, 2016). This trend can also be seen in healthcare professionals and will increase as younger practioners join the workforce. A survey in 2011 by the Medical Protection society found that 36% of doctors used Facebook on a daily basis and that 100% of medical students have Facebook accounts with Ofcom reporting that 80 % of adults in the UK has some sort of social medial account.

At the same time, health care organizations find challenges in adopting social media. Hospital and medical practices are risk adverse and generally cautious about new technology trends without clear value. There are questions about whether social media use by hospital employees is a waste of time, or even worse, presents risks of violating HIPAA or leaking proprietary information. Hospital IT departments are concerned about security risks, such as the use of tinyurl.com, which can mask malicious Web sites. Privacy concerns, particularly the vulnerability of social media accounts, are also cited as a reason to avoid social media. (John Sharp 2010).