}); 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). Take the 2014 case of an RN in New York City who was fired by her employer for posting a picture on Instagram depicting a chaotic emergency room following the care of a man who was hit by a subway train. 2023 NYP Holdings, Inc. All Rights Reserved, I tried to shoot a day-in-the-life TikTok and accidentally filmed myself getting fired, Don Lemons fiery exchange with GOP candidate left CNN leaders exasperated, As public radio becomes stridently left-wing, its time to defund NPR, IRSto spend $80B to hire 30,000 new employees, boost audits on wealthy. See ourprivacy policyfor more information. Your Privacy Respected Please see HIPAA Journal privacy policy. However, although the HIPAA violations might not be recognized as such within the nursing unit, a nurse can still be held responsible for a violation albeit an unintentional violation that results from an unofficial working practice. It is not possible to determine the most common causes of HIPAA violations by nurses because although HHSpublishes a tableindicating the top five issues in investigated cases, there is no distinction between HIPAA violations by nurses and other members of the workforce. Steve is responsible for editorial policy regarding the topics covered on HIPAA Journal. They all sound like HIPAA violations to me. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. Willful violations of HIPAA Rules, including theft of PHI for personal gain or use of PHI with intent to cause harm, can result in criminal penalties for HIPAA violations. ", Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information. Looking for a change beyond the bedside? According to the Sacramento Bee, a nurse working in the labor and delivery unit at Kaiser Permanente was fired after posting a comment on Facebook. Nurses who accidentally release patient information can be fined anywhere from $100 to $50,000 civil fine. Nurses often use social media platforms to discuss issues around patients, healthcare, and to promote their own profession. Nurse's firing over Instagram photo spurs social media debate Man vs. 6train So, did this really happen? — -- One of the most dramatic scenes so far from the second season of ABCs New York Med had nothing to do with gunshot wounds or heart transplants. Cancel Any Time. 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). Find all that an more with the FreshRN VIP - Membership. A Florida nurse has been fired for posting photos on social media cruelly mocking a newborn with a birth defect, hospital officials said. If a nurse accidently discloses ePHI due to a Covered Entity failing to implement a technical safeguard, the designation of fault can depend on many factors. All elements of dates (except year) for dates directly related to an individual, including birth date, admission date, discharge date, date of death; and all ages over 89 and all elements of dates (including year) indicative of such age, except that such ages and elements may be aggregated into a single category of age 90 or older. Ms N could not get the toddler off her mind after she arrived home from. It seems so many people want to denigrate Katie Duke, from her choice to post the photo being discussed to the measurement of her waistline. Four labor and delivery nurses at an Atlanta hospital came under fire over a TikTok video in which they shared the things that annoy them about expecting mothers and their families. This story has been shared 542,106 times. Brittney is the author of, Interviews and Press, Awards and Mentions. Most of the nurses that get into trouble have good intentions but they just dont know how far reaching social media can be, Spector said. that's continuously reviewed to ensure its as relevant and accurate as Because none of us are perfect. Emory Healthcare said in its statement that patients should always feel they are being treated with "care and respect.". It was the caption, which was very insensitive. A good rule of thumb is to keep work and private lives separate, and never to post any information about patients on a social media platform, even if you do not think that a patient could be identified from the post. Katie Duke, RN, posted a photo on Instagram of the room in which a man was treated after being hit by a New York City subway train with the caption "#Man vs 6 train," according to the report . Much like their dance routines, empathy is also performative, and theyll even exploit the death of a patient to display their supposed struggle after managing to lose another one or highlight their strength to constantly overcome this commonplace occurrence in their profession. A Houston nurse is no longer employed after she posted on social media about a young patient with measles, Texas Children's Hospital said Thursday. ", 2020 THE SUN, US, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED | TERMS OF USE | PRIVACY | YOUR AD CHOICES | SITEMAP. The failure to report a minor violation could have major consequences. Samuels had worked for the Miami-based Jackson Health System since 2016, the station reported. Copyright 2014-2023 HIPAA Journal. "Dont play with peoples lives. This article contains personal opinions and assumptions based on the facts available to me as of the original publication date. Samuels, who posted several other photos of herself on the job, was placed on administrative leave last month after the photos surfaced. The nurses fired for mocking patients on TikTok exemplify our culture I speak professionally on the topic of social media for nurses and often get asked about specific examples of nurses making mistakes on social media. People often use keywords like I shouldnt violate HIPPA, but that make the inappropriate material pop up on a search for HIPAA. There are a few frequent fliers on my search lists but their employers obviously arent doing the same searches. At this point, however, I should probably say was a star, since a recent episode revealed that Katie was fired after posting this photo of a trauma room to her popular Instagram account (thekatieduke). No nurse is immune to penalties resulting from inappropriate social media sharing. By consuming any of our content, you agree that you will hold us harmless for actions you made as the result of the data. This was such a teachable moment, She could have used her brand that she has built to help other nurses avoid making the same mistake. Mary, in my opinion the photo wasnt the problem. Nurse fired for posting photos of newborn with birth defect For an optimal experience visit our site on another browser. If you hung around nurses station and heard the way we talk about injuries, life and death you might get the wrong impression but its just a coping mechanism. She said. Firing for Online Behavior - SHRM Can You Get an Associate Degree in Nursing Online? I rarely heard her complain even in private, and she had a love for the profession and her patients. The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) gives patients rights over their health information and sets rules and limits on who can look at and receive patients health information. The childs mother had been notified of the privacy breach, hospital officials told WFOR. She reportedly created a GoFundMe page titled "TikTok Got me Fired," but explains that she was suspended from her job. The HIPAA Journal is the leading provider of news, updates, and independent advice for HIPAA compliance. 7 Tips for Using Social Media as a Nursing Professional Its nomenclature. Author: Steve Alder is the editor-in-chief of HIPAA Journal. 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. Ridiculous: Oregon Nurse Loses Job Over Social Media Post That Doesn't If the nurse works for a HIPAA Covered Entity, you can report the violation to the Covered Entitys Privacy Officer or HHS Office for Civil Rights. You know all nursing jobs arent created (or paid!) Participating in the TikTok #IckChallenge, four Emory University Hospital Midtown employees recorded a one-minute TikTok video discussing their icks about being nurses who deal primarily with labor and delivery. Texas Nurse Fired for Social Media HIPAA Violation Breach of Ethics Nurses are held to high moral and ethical standards.