The post examines misuse of social
technology by identifying a scenario in one of the organization. It
looks into the ethical issues concerning the misuse of social media by the
nurses, consequences, legal matters, and steps that can be taken to avoid a
repeat of the misconduct. It is essential to come up with policies control the
transfer of information on the social media and the ethical standards to be
followed in a business environment (Flynn, 2008).
The National Council of State
Boards of Nursing (NCSBN) is an organization through which the board and the
council network and share ideas on matters of public health. The board operates
as a not-for-profit organization and seeks to create safety and welfare of the
people, as well as facilitating licensing examinations among in nurses
(Spector, Nancy & Kappel, 2012).
In 2011, a nurse commented on a
small town newspaper blog about taking care of a handicapped child who was on a
wheelchair. The nurse violated the privacy law by disclosing the age of the
child and the family to the social media. According to NCSBN, it was unethical
and insensitive for failure of the nurse to maintain the confidentiality of the
patient. Nurses are supposed to keep confidentiality of the private information
of the patient in accordance to the Board of Nursing (BON) code of ethics
(Spector, Nancy & Kappel, 2012).Furthermore, there is a scenario in 2011 in
which a photo of a patient in gown was forwarded through an email. The first
recipient forwarded to other in an attempt to trace the source, and the
sequence followed until the photo became the topic of discussion at the hospital.
Before the management became aware of the violation of the patient’s privacy,
the local media had found the story and aired it on the news headlines. Law
enforcement started investigations on possibilities of sexual exploitation at
the hospital. As a result, the administration placed the nurses on a compulsory
leave, pending assessment the nature of the facilities to protecting the
patients’ dignity, rights and protection. Unfortunately, the incidence placed
the hospital at criticism by the BON on the patients’ confidentiality, and the
hospital had to pay damages to the patient for the violation of his rights
(Spector, Nancy & Kappel, 2012).
There are several consequences such
as breach of the federal law which can result to criminal penalties, fines and
even serve a sentence in jail. The state can impose privacy laws concerning the
confidentiality of privacy records, as well as laws related to harassment.
Other consequences include tort liability such as intentional infliction of
emotional distress and invasion of privacy. However, the hospital institution
could suffer non-measurable impact when patients fail to visit the hospital for
fear that the hospital might not appreciate confidentiality of the patients. As
such, the hospital reputation would decline drastically and lose the
competitive advantage. The hospital
could avoid such mistakes by reviewing the nurses’ codes of ethics such as
sharing of the information at the consent of the patient (Mullerat, 2011).
According to the Diana C. Robertson
on corporate social responsibility, she integrates social construct theory to
bring out the need for the institution to build a business community based on
moral society. She applies the theory to explain about acting ethically by
analyzing issues of bribery, intellectual property and how to deal with
conflicting standards and values in the organization. From the two hospital
cases, the nurses did not have a clear framework of the ethical standards and
values needed when handling the patient’s information. As a result, the action
of spreading the patient’s content was unethical to the business community and
a failure on the hospital’s corporate social responsibility (Robertson, 2009).
Every facet of our life today
involves the social media, and information can be transferred within a very
short time. However, organization should form policies to regulate the amount
of information circulation in the social media to prevent the breach of the
code of ethics and law.
Thank for reading & hope you like it
References
Flynn, G. (2008). Leadership and Business
Ethics. Ireland: Springer Science & Business
Media
Mullerat, R. (2011). Corporate Social
Responsibility: The Corporate Governance of the 21st
Century. Netherlands: Kluwer Law International
Robertson,
D.C. (2009). Corporate
Social Responsibility and Different Stages of Economic
Development:
Singapore, Turkey, and Ethiopia, Journal of Business Ethics, 88, 617 - 633.
Spector, Nancy., Kappel, D.M. (2012).
Guidelines for Using Electronic and Social Media: The
Regulatory Perspective. The Online Journal of Issues in Nursing,
17(3).
