ICN: Nurses and Social Media
With everything going online nowadays, International Council of Nurses (ICN) has
issued its position statement regarding nurses and social media. Check the full text below.
The International Council of Nurses (ICN) is a federation of more than 130
national nurses associations (NNAs), representing the more than 16 million
nurses worldwide. Founded in 1899, ICN is the world’s first and widest reaching
international organisation for health professionals.
Nurses and Social Media
ICN position:
The International Council of Nurses (ICN) believes that social media can be a
powerful tool for rapidly communicating, educating and influencing and has a
significant potential to strengthen the nursing profession. ICN supports the
use of social media by nurses to stay abreast of recent health care
developments, to enrich practice and to dialogue with the professional
community and the public.
ICN recognises the benefits of using social media for health promotion and
illness prevention and to promote health programmes and services. Social media,
when used appropriately, can increase access to timely and credible health
information and provides healthcare consumers and providers with tools by which
they can share this information with a large audience. It can also be used as a
mechanism for sharing the contributions of nursing with the public and to
strengthen the image of nursing globally.
Although social media has much to offer, it is important that nurses understand
their professional responsibilities regarding its use1. Nurses need to be aware
of and understand the benefits and risks of its use both inside and outside the
workplace. ICN calls on nurses, health care provider organisations, educational
institutions, professional associations and regulators to consider and address
the professional, ethical, regulatory and legal issues associated with the use
of social media.
ICN believes that:
Nurses need to:
Educate themselves about both the
opportunities in the use of social media in relation to enhancing knowledge,
informing practice and health care teaching and also the risks related to its
use.
· Adhere to legal, regulatory,
institutional and/or organisational standards, guidelines, policies and
· codes of conduct with respect to the use of social media and apply these codes, standards, guidelines and policies
equally to online activities as they do in other activities. Ensure they have the required
competencies, are practicing within their scope of practice, and are legally
authorised to do so if providing health information, advice or services through
social media.
· Be aware of the quality and reliability
of information
· online and recognise how this information affects patients’ health
and illness experiences. Inform and educate patients regarding both
the opportunities and risks related to social media in the context of their
health.
· Keep personal and professional use of
social media separate and refrain from using social media for personal use
while at work.
· Maintain patient privacy and
confidentiality at all times and not discuss issues related to their
workplaceonline
· or post any information relating to patients or
their families. Formally seek approval if they are going
to record or archive interactions with patients and be aware of the legal
position in terms of access to such material in conduct cases or when there are
legal proceedings.
· Respect the boundaries of the
therapeutic nurse-patient relationship and not connect with or accept patients
or former patients as electronic ‘friends’ on personal social media sites due
to the risk of
· breachingtherapeutic relationships. Refrain from posting defamatory or
offensive comments about employers, educational institutions, colleagues or
patients and be aware that an unnamed patient or person may be identifiable from posted
information.
Report identified
· breaches of privacy or confidentiality. Be aware of and use privacy
· settings in order to maintain control of access to personal
information. Be aware of copyright restrictions and
the risks to
· breaching copyright when posting information online. Be aware of the rapidity of
communication through social media outlets and the possibility of instant
reposts or retweets and therefore the importance of being thoughtful of what is
being communicated before posting.
· Recognise that everything posted
· online is public and permanent, even if deleted and that using
pseudonyms does not provide anonymity. Be aware of the image they are
portraying when posting content even when not work related and help reinforce a
positive global image of nursing.
·Healthcare Provider Organisations and Educational Institutions should:
Integrate key points regarding the use
of social media in undergraduate, graduate and
· continuing education programmes and incontracts of employment and
confidentiality agreements.Educate students and nurses in the appropriate ethical and responsible
application of social media in practice and develop and disseminate proactive
policies and guidelines for the use of social media.
Link social media policies to existing
policies relating to privacy and confidentiality.
· Promote the use of appropriate social
media platforms that inform practice, improve the quality of care and patient
safety and provide mechanisms for nurses to access approved social media in
workplace.
· Have in place clear controls relating to
non-approved websites.
· Explicitly identify if digital records
and transcripts are to be electronically retained and if so the rights of parties
to access these.
·Professional Associations and Regulatory Authorities should:
Raise awareness of the power of social
media and highlight both its benefits and risks if not used appropriately.
· Develop and widely disseminate clear
social media standards, policies, guidelines and resources and provide guidance
to nurses regarding their application in practice.
· Integrate these social media standards,
policies and guidelines in organisational practices related to social media
usage.
·Background
‘Social media’ describes the
online and mobile tools that people use to share opinions,
information, experiences, images and video or audio clips and includes websites and applications used for
social networking. Common sources of social media include, but are not limited
to, social networking sites such as Facebook and LinkedIn, blogs (personal,
professional and those published anonymously), and microblogs such as Twitter,
content-sharing websites such as YouTube and Instagram, and discussion forums
and message boards2. Social media continues to rapidly advance as a mechanism
for communication, is being embraced globally and is popular among healthcare
professions, including nursing. Social media has benefits for healthcare
providers and consumers alike.
When used appropriately, it fosters professional relationships through
online communities of practice where information is shared and discussed
and can inform and correct misinformation in disaster and emergency situations.
It also represents an opportunity to promote healthy attitudes and behaviours.
Individuals who have similar health concerns can form virtual communities
through which they can connect, interact and share experiences thus creating a
sense of empowerment and reducing isolation. While there are benefits to the
use of social media both by the general public and nurses, there are also
risks.
Areas where social media has been inappropriately used by healthcare
professionals, in addition tobreaches
of privacy, include bullying of colleagues and
peers, online criticism of colleagues or employers, and unprofessional
behaviour that may be in breach of codes of conduct. These actions can have a profoundly
negative impact on nurses, patients, colleagues, educational institutions,
employers and the nursing profession and have resulted in nurses being involved
in disciplinary andcriminal proceedings. As a result, educational institutions, healthcare
employers, professional associations and regulatory authorities are
increasingly developing standards, polices and guidelines regarding the use of
social media.
It is essential that these documents are regularly updated, incorporate all
generations of providers in their update and keep pace with socio-technical
advances and educational, employment, regulatory and legal decisions that are
made regarding social media use. The continuously expanding use of social media
provides unprecedented opportunities for rapid and wide-reaching communication
and information sharing and it is essential that nursing and healthcare
communities capitalise on and safely harness the power of social media for
global outreach.
