Nurses’ and the World of Social Media: Professional Perspective

Before considering a professional presence on social media, one must understand what social media is. The Merriam-webster dictionary (n.d) defines social media as “forms of electronic communication (such as websites for social networking and microblogging) through which users create online communities to share information, ideas, personal messages, and other content (such as videos)”. Alternatively, Naions (2019) has broken social media down in a two part originally defining both ‘social’ and ‘media’ before developing one basic definition of “web-based communication tools that enable people to interact with each other by sharing and consuming information”. The nature of social media posts needs to be treated with the same civility as a face-to-face interaction as to avoid creating an uncivil atmosphere online.

Our online interactions can also cause consequences for our personal and professional lives, no matter which type of account is utilized. Social media can have common consequences to the general public such as cyberbullying and self image mutilation (Naions, 2019). When it comes to professional consequences it is possible for them to excide farther to disciplinary action from employers and regulatory bodies.

As a nurse in Ontario, we are a regulated profession through the College of Nurses of Ontario (CNO). The CNO is a self-regulating governing body that established entry to practice standards, practice standards, disciplinary action as needed relating to practice standards, and assisting legislative needs for the province (2020). As a nurse, The College of Nurses of Ontario has a position statement that outlines the expectations of nurses using social media, including it’s definition: “social media describes the online and mobile tools that people use to share opinions, information and experiences, images and video or audio clips, and includes websites and applications used for social networking” (International Nurses Regulator Collaborative, 2016). This statement is issued from the International Nurse Regulator Collaborative and is an easy to use two page document; the key message I take away from this document was the “6 ‘P’s of Social Media Use” (International Nurses Regulator Collaborative, 2016). The 6 P’s are: “Professional, positive, Patient/person-free, protect yourself, privacy, pause before you post”; by utilizing these important principles in public posts, I am upholding profession ethical standards (International Nurses Regulator Collaborative, 2016).

Through MHST 601 course, I am exploring the use of social media for professional presence for myself. With this I am considering how my posts can be used positively among the professional world. While I am not professional obligated to have a professional identity, the global pandemic has been a major event that has benefited from the use of social media to disseminate information. I look forward to continuing to explore my professional identity in the social media and aid my fellow colleges in disseminating information.

References

College of Nurses of Ontario. (2020, October 2) About the College of Nurses of Ontario. https://www.cno.org/en/what-is-cno/

International Nurses Regulators Collaborative (Dec, 2016). Social Media Use: Common Expectations for Nurses. http://www.cno.org/globalassets/docs/ prac/incr-social-media-use-common-expectations-for-nurses.pdf

Merriam-Webster. (n.d.). Social media. In Merriam-Webster.com dictionary. https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/social%20media

Naions, D. (2019, December 19). What Is Social Media? Lifewire: https://www.lifewire.com/what-is-social-media-explaining-the-big-trend-3486616