How do you stay professional in a digital world?
- Leslie Ann
- Feb 2, 2019
- 2 min read
Updated: Apr 7, 2019
Add me to Facebook, follow my Instagram, are you on Twitter, lets share snaps on snap chat, these are just a few of the ways we connect with each other in the new digital world. I remember when we used to ask for addresses, emails and cellphone numbers to text. Technology is advancing faster than many of us can keep up. We all want to stay connected to our friends, family and co-workers but keeping it all balanced is quite the task. As a Nurse, I have the responsibility to ensure I keep within the Code of Ethics I took 30 years ago when I decided to become a nurse. Now as a Master's student, I am looking at how I represent myself in social media, and creating this
e-portfolio to shape my footprint on the web. The values nursing are based on include equality, caring, safe patient care, diversity, privacy just to name a few. These are the factors I use to judge my social media usage. My awareness of keeping a professional presence has been increased already this term. I believe nurses have so much power to highlight health concerns of our communities and be an advocate for change. However we cannot do that if there is confusion around who we are as a professional and what we represent ourselves as personally. In Newfoundland we follow the Registered Nurses Act , that the ARNNL help enforce. They provide regulations for nurses in our province, and also ensure protection of the public. If you research issues with nurses and social media, there are articles on nurses who were disciplines for sharing pictures of patients, sharing workplace rants, compromising information of the employer, and sharing pictures/jokes/articles that have been viewed as discriminatory. Social media has so much power to be used more positively, it
give nurses a chance to tweet articles of interest to nurses, share information to help education the public about health, and demonstrate leadership in our profession. I ask you this, If you were going to a job interview tomorrow, would you let your prospective new employer see your Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram accounts? If not, maybe its time to start fresh and create the digital presence you would proudly share.
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