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Nursing Faculty Handbook

Social Media Guidelines - Nursing

These guidelines apply to: All nursing faculty, staff and students to ensure privacy is respected when using social media.  

  1. Social media includes web-based tools that support and promote interactive and highly accessible communication between students, their peers, and others in the public.
  2. Faculty and students are legally responsible for any information they post on social media. 
  3. There CANNOT be information sharing that is in direct violation of HIPAA, FERPA, college or facility policies which includes, but is not limited to, identifying patients by name, facility name or location, room number, or other identifiers.
  4. Faculty, staff, and students are prohibited from taking personal photos, video, or audio recordings in patient care areas to avoid inadvertently capturing patients or patient information. 
  5. Posting unprofessional comments or exhibiting unprofessional behavior while identifying as a Donnelly College Nursing student on social media is prohibited. 
  6. Nursing faculty and students should not connect with patients or patient family members using social media. 
  7. Faculty and students should review and consider the NCSBN Nurse s Guide to the Use of social media (https://www.ncsbn.org/public-files/NCSBN_SocialMedia.pdf) for general guidance describing professional expectations around social media use for nurses. 

Nursing faculty, staff and students must adhere to the Donnelly College social networking guidelines and HIPAA regulations. Any breach of HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act) will result in disciplinary action.