Social Media Networking Policy in Healthcare

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Table of Contents

Policy Statement
Definition
Scope
Procedures
Guideline
Recommended Professional Filters
References

Policy Statement

“The Hospital” recognizes that social networks are an effective tool for information exchange between the major stakeholders in the healthcare system and that they are increasingly becoming a conduit for organizational connections. Nevertheless, using social networks may have risks and carry specific responsibilities. To help employees, make responsible decisions about operating social networks, “The Hospital” has prepared this policy to protect the interests of “The Hospital”, its employees, and patients, to ensure the confidentiality of any references to “The Hospital” and its divisions. The principles expect healthcare specialists to engage in governing their online conduct and participate in organizational developments (American Nurses Association, 2012). The policy describes how “The Hospital” makes use of social media and how “The Hospital” employees manage social media accounts. Social Media Networking Policy is a corporate code of conduct that contains valuable information and recommendations regarding employees who post content on the Internet as part of work or as a private person. “The Hospital:” Social Media Networking Policy applies to all employees at the facility.

Definition

“Social Media” refers to a website or platform that allows the creation and exchange of user-generated content. Examples include but are not limited to, Facebook, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Twitter, YouTube, and any AHA-affiliated internal or external online community platforms. In this case, it should be argued that social media refers to all websites and applications that enable individuals to engage in social networking by creating and sharing content (Chen & Wang, 2021). Consequently, healthcare professionals in “The Hospital” can use social media to communicate with patients, and other practitioners, engage with other specialists in groups and communities, and search for online information on the best solutions to deal with various patient cases. All other social media activities, including communicating with friends, posting status updates, and sharing patient information without consent to publication via these channels, are against the organization’s social networking policy.

Scope

“The Hospital” uses social media to build relationships with the healthcare field, the media, and the public. Social networks allow “The Hospital” to successfully achieve its goals and objectives and achieve high-performance results by communicating with a specific audience and informing them about problems and trends in the medical field. Moreover, this moment promotes that the perspectives and needs of the healthcare field are articulated and comprehended.

Procedures

Employees should clearly and consistently adhere to the following important principles:

Behave respectfully — be fair and polite to colleagues, patients, and people working with “The Hospital” and its divisions.
Information on the Internet is available to everyone — remember that colleagues and patients often have access to online content that you publish.
Keep confidential — Keep confidential the confidential information of “The Hospital” and its divisions, as well as the confidential information of its patients and stakeholders.
Be transparent — Identify yourself as an employee every time you create a link from your blog, website, or another social network website to the website of “The Hospital” (or its division).
Only authorized persons can act on behalf of “The Hospital” — “The Hospital” policy on continuous disclosure of information, and communication defines the circle of employees who can make statements.
You act as a private person — you are responsible for the confidentiality and security of all your messages and other publications on social networks.
It is impossible to “delete” something on the Internet — be honest and accurate when publishing information and news, and if you make a mistake, quickly correct it.
Using social networks at work — avoid using social networks during working hours and on the equipment provided by us if these actions are not related to work, have not been approved by your supervisor, and do not comply with the organization’s policy.

Guideline

For specific situations, it is necessary to protect the organization’s trade secrets and confidential information. You should remember transparency and report that you are an employee of the hospital. Remember that everything published on social networks can become famous, despite the privacy settings. In addition, it is necessary to comply with this policy and admit mistakes strictly; even if you realize that you have violated this policy, immediately inform your supervisor about it.

Recommended Professional Filters

The procedure for posting on social media requires appealing to the following essential and meaningful recommendations. Medics can gauge the amount of risk associated with their online activities by applying professional filters to their behaviors (Saenger et al., 2018). These filters include questions about the legislation that applies to a case and the individuals involved the medical and professional standards that they should review and the best possible ways to promote their practice (McBride & Tietze, 2022).

Firstly, each post on social networks should collect accurate, reliable, and objective information using the correct tone for the audience a medical specialist addresses (Beveridge, 2022). Publishing on social networks is one of the most acceptable tactics to raise citizens’ awareness in terms of exchanging valid and trustworthy health messages. Secondly, the content should be inspiring, engaging, and not overloaded with unnecessary information – brief and to the point (Barnhart, 2020). Thirdly, according to HIPAA, using social channels provides the patient’s voluntary consent to share patient stories or photos. This aspect implies strict adherence to the principles of confidentiality of information and privacy. Fourthly, medics need to additionally consider confidentiality issues and information aimed at improving patients’ health in a professional context (Chen & Wang, 2021). Therefore, publishing on social networks is a complex process that requires special attention and approach and may consist of the exchange of information between both patients and colleagues.

References

American Nurses Association. (2012). ANA’s principles for social networking and the nurse: guidance for registered nurses. ANA. Web.

Barnhart, B. (2020). Social media and healthcare: how to prioritize what patients need. Sprout Social, Inc. Web.

Beveridge, C. (2022). How to use social media in healthcare: examples + tips. Hootsuite. Web.

Chen, J., & Wang, Y. (2021). Social media use for health purposes: systematic review. Journal of Medical Internet Research, 23(5), e17917. Web.

McBride, S., & Tietze, M. (2022). Nursing informatics for the advanced practice nurse: patient safety, quality, outcomes, and interprofessional. Springer Publishing Company.

Saenger, A. K., Berkowitz, M., Carley, S., Haymond, S., Ennis-O’Connor, M., Sherbino, J., & Smith,

S. W. (2018). The power of social media in medicine and medical education: opportunities, risks, and rewards. Clinical Chemistry, 64(9), 1284-1290. Web.

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