Ethical Reasoning and Online Social Media

Abstract

Undergraduate nursing students are frequent users of social media sites; however, the ethical or professional implications surrounding the use of online social networking sites are ambiguous and understudied. Faculty guidance is needed if students are to gain the necessary skills and values to appropriately use social media while maintaining professional accountability. The authors discuss the outcomes of a study that assessed their students' sensitivity to posting clinical information on social media sites.

Social Media and Nurse Education: An Integrative Review of the Literature

“…A longitudinal study conducted on the basis of and inspired by Kohlberg's theory showed that moral development is strongly linked to age, education and IQ. However, the experience of school tends to favour a predominance of stages 1 and 4 (reward/punishment and law and order) [19]. The sharing of ethical and moral values in an educational context is seen as equivalent to teaching ethics.…”

“…Trainers should include policies on the use of social media in their curricula and teach students to use them appropriately from the very start of their courses, promoting discussion and analysis on the subjects of confidentiality, privacy and professionalism [38]. Similarly, there is a focus on ethical awareness and hence on building moral development [19,20]. According to Kohlberg, there are six stages of moral development: [1] reward/punishment [2] individualism and instrumental purpose [3] good boy/girl [4] law and order [5] social contract [6] conscience and universal principles [39].…”

“…This orientation is also due to the increasing use of these tools in the health sector [1,3,[5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18].The second and extremely innovative theme to come out of the literature review concerns the ethical/professional principles that should be the basis for use of social media. On the one hand, there is a focus on professional aspects [19,21] that is, the need to define clear and shared guidelines for appropriate use of social media by organisations, health workers, professionals and trainers. Organisations should regulate use of these tools in professional contexts with specific policies and procedures.…”

“…The key points that should guide their definition are: the approach should be proactive; attitudes to these communication tools should not be restrictive; appropriate use should guarantee high professional standards even online. Frazier et al [19] assessed opinions of social media and their personal, professional and ethical use by student nurses and teachers in relation to Kohlberg's theory. The study conducted by the authors by means of a questionnaire involved 33 teachers, 236 students and 37 graduate nurses.…”

“…It is important to have a deep understanding of these tools and their potential risks in order to avoid inappropriate use of them [1]. The line between proper and improper use, and even abuse, of social media is a fine one [3,19,20]. Thus, the key issue is to be aware of the tool that is being used and this should be supported by suitable training for health care professionals and, at an even earlier stage, for students at health care training instructions during their studies [3,[19][20][21].…”