Legal / Ethical

OK. So we were studying the legal/ethical consideration of Mental Health Nursing, and a lot of questions were raised. My instructor mentioned something very interesting (and kind of scary!) She said NEVER POST ANYTHING WORK RELATD ON FACEBOOK OR OTHER PUBLIC SITE.

This may seen like a nig DUH to some people - I mean with HIPAA and everything, I would never share anyone's information! BUT we discussed an incident (I don't know who or where this took place...) where a nurse was caring for a patient, and when her shift was over, the nurse went home. Like many of us, she checked her FB and updated her status. Said something like "So tired I can't think straight" or something to that effect. LSS (Long Story Short) - the patient dies later that night, and as often happens, there was a neglect/malpractice investigation. So guess what turns up as evidence against this nurse? YUP! The fact that she, with her own words she had implicated herself - just becasue she flippantly mentioned she was so tired she couldn't think straight! WOW!

I was really looking forward to maintaining this blog and sharing my personal experiences, but now I'm a little frightened! Is my Bipolar going to keep me from getting hired? Will anything written in this blog be used against me later? Hmmm.. I'm still deciding to be honest...

I'm thinking I will continue posting, but I may be a little more guarded than before.

Crazy litigious society!