A NURSE in North Carolina was suspended after allegedly ridiculing and mocking patients - some of whom were critically ill. As a nurse, it's important to know what you can and cannot post on social media. Delivered via email so please ensure you enter your email address correctly. (The Canadian Press/CBC) A Saskatchewan nurse who used Twitter and Facebook to express concern about the quality of care given to a family member in a nursing home has been found guilty of. Steve has developed a deep understanding of regulatory issues surrounding the use of information technology in the healthcare industry and has written hundreds of articles on HIPAA-related topics. I hold high expectations for the nursing profession because of my mother, who spent decades being a nurse to eventually teach and prepare nurses in a nursing school. Our culture of narcissism has no occupational boundaries, and the honorable position of being a nurse has been tainted over the past couple of years by the public indecency of the narcissistic monsters within the profession. Pedestrian v. Car, motorcycle v. Truck. 2023 NYP Holdings, Inc. All Rights Reserved, Indiana bar backtracks on vow to toss patrons who criticize Bud Light, Dylan Mulvaney, Twitter co-founder Dorsey says company went south after Elon Musk took over, Megyn Kelly sports red MAGA-style hat in poolside pic, Most people make this major mistake sharing photos, TikTok video discussing their icks about being nurses. Thanks for the follow up. Social media is a double-edged sword. I think that if the photo was the only thing posted, without her personal commentary about a real-life tragic event (that she made light of), I think it would have been perceived as harmless and shed still have her job today. If any personally identifiable protected health information is posted on social media without consent first being obtained from the patient, it constitutes a violation of the HIPAA Privacy Rule. All links on this site may be affiliate links and should be considered as such. What are your staff posting on social media? The nurse, Kelly Morris, said the social media videos in question were just jokes. Mary Krusi Dyke DRozario I think that many nurses (and other employees) are getting by with a lot more on social media than they would be able to if their employers monitored their activity more often. The report concerns more than fifty events in which patient privacy was violated in nursing homes and assisted living facilities; and although not every event qualified as a HIPAA violation, the report shows the scale of violations and the penalties for those who committed them. You know all nursing jobs arent created (or paid!) Her social media mishap can (and should) be a powerful tool that nurse educators, bloggers, and others can use to show how a simple oversight in your online activity can have a damaging impact on an individual nursing career and potentially the nursing profession as a whole. There are many examples of nurses being fired for social media use, but Katies story is one of the most well-known and allows for a very teachable moment. Where new information has been made available, I have provided updates and clarification. A HIPAA violation is a felony if it involves the knowing and wrongful acquisition or disclosure of individually identifiable health information under false pretenses or for personal gain, commercial advantage, or malicious intent. By consuming any of our content, you agree that you will hold us harmless for actions you made as the result of the data. You can read more about accidental HIPAA violations here. There is no best training course on HIPAA for nurses because nurses compliance with HIPAA is subject to their employers HIPAA policies rather than the text of the Administrative Simplification provisions. HITECH News At nurse.org, we believe that no one knows nurses better than, well, nurses. This further suggests that the social media mishap was planned. In response to the rightful outrage from social-media users, the Atlanta hospital fired the four nurses over the weekend for, it said, filming "a TikTok video that included disrespectful. 2. Follow us and never miss out on the best in nursing news. This article contains personal opinions and assumptions based on the facts available to me as of the original publication date. Mary, in my opinion the photo wasnt the problem. Turn on desktop notifications for breaking stories about interest? HIPAA Violations 4. I dont like to focus on the negative aspects of social media for nurses, but this Katie Duke is one example is being highly publicized and merits a response. Had the actions been covered in security and awareness training? Your email address will not be published. She explained that it was a rough experience seeing the boy suffering from the disease. What happens when a nurse breaches confidentiality depends on the nature of the breach and the reason for it. Kelly Morris was suspended from her job at The Citadel Winston Salemnursing home after she posted videos about her patients on her TikTok channel, according to officials. Is Katie Duke a good nurse? Where the HIPAA violation represents gross misconduct with serious consequences for either a patient or an employer, a nurse could also be reported to their licensing board; while a criminal violation (under 1177 of the Social Security Act) will likely be referred to law enforcement. A nurse has been sacked after sharing a picture of her homemade face mask and speaking out about the conditions she works under amid the COVID-19 outbreak. Simple. The nurse also made anti-vaccine comments . If reporting the event to HHS Office for Civil Rights, the agency will review the complaint and investigate the violation if it believes the complaint is justified. However, the most common causes of HIPAA violations in recent years that could be attributed to nurses include impermissible uses and disclosures of PHI, the failure to respond to or a delay in responding to patient access requests, and failing to comply with the Minimum Necessary Standard. "All my videos are comedy skits. All geographical subdivisions smaller than a State, including street address, city, county, precinct, zip code, and their equivalent geocodes, except for the initial three digits of a zip code, if according to the current publicly available data from the Bureau of the Census: (1) The geographic unit formed by combining all zip codes with the same three initial digits contains more than 20,000 people; and (2) The initial three digits of a zip code for all such geographic units containing 20,000 or fewer people is changed to 000. It came when emergency room nurse Katie Duke was fired for posting a photo to Instagram. Reasons Nurses Get Fired 1. I cannot claim to know what was going on in her head when she posted that photo, I can only express my opinion. What happens if a nurse violates HIPAA compliance rules? There is no private cause of action in HIPAA. that's continuously reviewed to ensure its as relevant and accurate as It is a violation of HIPAA to share EMR login credentials because, under the Administrative Safeguards of the Security Rule (45 CFR 164.308), Covered Entities are required to implement procedures that record system activity including who accesses systems containing ePHI and when. Texas Nurse Fired for Social Media HIPAA Violation Posted By HIPAA Journal on Sep 13, 2018 A nurse at a Texas children's hospital has been fired for violating Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) Rules by posting protected health information on a social media website. "Dont play with peoples lives. Nurse Julie Dyde and healthcare worker Rachel Keys have both been sacked by Calderdale and Huddersfield NHS Trust, West Yorkshire, and nurse Caroline Luxford-Noyes, has been fired by. She moved to New York and made something of herself. Katie Duke, a nurse propelled to fame by popular reality show NY Med, was fired for social media. I also saw Katie on an interview on Inside Edition late in the week she didnt seem to admit any wrongdoing just said I cant believe they fired such a caring person. (CNN) -- An oncology nurse in Oregon who bragged about flouting COVID-19 restrictions in a TikTok video "is no longer employed with Salem Health," the hospital system confirmed to CNN. Its not clear if the company fired the nurses as a direct result of the video. Im not saying that nurses should be monitored any more closely that anyone else, but unfortunately its an option for any employer these days so everyone should be on their toes about it. While the nurse did not post the childs name on Facebook, her job was listed on her profile along with the hospital where she worked, and information about the boy and his condition. Your email address will not be published. I do find the comment very insensitive. The motive is important because a social media post sharing good news about a patients recovery is more of an unthinking or accidental violation of HIPAA than a malicious one. A large part of me thinks this was all for the show. Adam B. Coleman is the author of Black Victim to Black Victor and founder of Wrong Speak Publishing. Think of all the the nurses she could prevent from being fired. Check out our list of the top non-bedside nursing careers. For example: Had the nursing student received adequate training before being exposed to PHI/ePHI? If so, it certainly upped her ratings, Im sure Im dont believe I like that sort of stereotyping about nurse role models though. That I am not sure of. The nurses at Emory University Hospital Midtown were participating in a popular trend where users share their "icks" or turnoffs about a person. Business associates of covered entities can also be fined directly for HIPAA violations, but what about individual healthcare workers such as nurses? Later that day, she was fired from her job at New York Presbyterian Hospital, she said. Was the HIPAA violation attributable to a lack of knowledge, or was it a malicious act? HIPAA Journal provides the most comprehensive coverage of HIPAA news anywhere online, in addition to independent advice about HIPAA compliance and the best practices to adopt to avoid data breaches, HIPAA violations and regulatory fines. Now I check my posts so no one gets offended or thinks I am a cold-hearted person., Emergency Medicine Tweet Chat Today at 1 PM, ET. If you make a mistake own it, learn from it and teach others not to make the same mistake. Morris was suspended from her job as a nurse. TikTok got me fired: Why was a nurse suspended over her TikToks? An official from Texas Childrens Hospital confirmed the nurse lost her job as a result of violating hospital policies and federal laws by posting protected health information on social media, and not for her anti-vaxxing views. Patient Abuse or Poor Professional Conduct 2. "No one was ever harmed and I treat all my patients with great care and they all love me.". Examples of HIPAA violations by nurses are difficult to come by on HHS Office for Civil Rights breach report because many HIPAA violations by nurses usually affect fewer than 500 individuals so are not publicly reported. The HIPAA violation penalties for nurses range from a verbal warning and/or refresher HIPAA training to termination of contract depending on the nature of the violation, the nurses previous history of compliance, the consequences of the violation, and their employers sanctions policy. Man vs 6train gave identifying information to the public about a patient (she said it was the man who was hit by the 6 train; she didnt need to post his name as the media will have already taken care of that); her account identified where she works (thereby identifying that the person is being treated in her hospital cant release that info to anyone unless the patient or family consents doubt she got a release) and the actual picture showed the type of treatment the patient received (its a stretch but any person with reasonable medical knowledge can figure out what kind of tx the pt received). 0:34. This is not an opinion all nurses share, but clearly Katie being fired for it shows that hospital administrators largely share my professional opinion. Abuse of Prescription or Non-Prescription Drugs 6. She took her loss and won! Required fields are marked *. This was not staged but there are things that happen behind the scenes that explain the situation. Accordius Health, the nursing home's parent company, said in a statement that "misuse and unprofessional use of social media platforms by employees violates our core values and is not tolerated. If you want to play you need to play with some children. The HIPAA Journal is the leading provider of news, updates, and independent advice for HIPAA compliance. Emory Healthcare did not immediately return a request for comment on Saturday. Those nurses empathized with us until the moment he left this earth and chose to mourn his passing alongside us. If a nurse breaches confidentiality for a purpose not permitted by HIPAA, the consequences can depend on whether the breach was well-meaning (i.e., in celebration of a patients recovery) or malicious (i.e., to demean a patient). She is the co-founder of Health Media Academy and is an award-winning author and blogger, international keynote speaker, and influencerin the nursing and healthcare technology communities. He is a specialist on healthcare industry legal and regulatory affairs, and has several years of experience writing about HIPAA and other related legal topics. But this poor kid was bad off and as a parent, I could see vaccinating out of fear, as reported by the Houston Chronicle, which obtained screenshots of her Facebook posts. Minyvonne Burkeis a senior breaking news reporter for NBC News. An attorney told WFOR last month that Samuels not only breached the newborns privacy, but also violated the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. That's why we rely on registered nurses and other experienced healthcare Reality TV is never quite reality, and this social media slip might have been a clever move planned by NY Med for major media and nursing coverage, or by Katie herself to further her growing fame. If made aware of a breach in client confidentiality, the actions a charge nurse should take depend on the nature of the breach. You need someone in your corner telling you what your managers really need from you, helping you learn to interact with your preceptor, and really just manage your life. Officials at the Jackson Memorial Hospital in Miami first learned of the incident on Sept. 8, Lidia Amoretti, a hospital spokesperson, told NBC News in an email Saturday. }); Show Your Employer You Have Completed The Best HIPAA Compliance Training Available With ComplianceJunctions Certificate Of Completion, ArcTitan is a comprehensive email archiving solution designed to comply with HIPAA regulations, Arrange a demo to see ArcTitans user-friendly interface and how easy it is to implement, Find Out With Our Free HIPAA Compliance Checklist, Quickly Identify Potential Risks & Vulnerabilities In Your HIPAA Compliance, Avoid HIPAA Compliance Violations Due To Social Media Misuse, penalties for HIPAA violations are detailed here, violating the HIPAA minimum necessary standard, Reader Offer: Free Annual HIPAA Risk Assessment, Video: Why HIPAA Compliance is Important for Healthcare Professionals, Accessing the PHI of patients you are not required to treat, Gossiping Talking about specific patients and disclosing their health information to family, friends & colleagues, Disclosing PHI to anyone not authorized to receive the information, Improper disposal of PHI Discarding protected health information with regular trash, Leaving PHI in a location where it can be accessed by unauthorized individuals, Using the credentials of another employee to access EMRs/Sharing login credentials, Sharing PHI on social media networks (See below).