Social Networking & the Nurse

The American Nurses Association has just published a new guideline, Principles for Social Networking and the Nurse. The guideline is intended to cover the benefits and risks of social networking and include the following six principles:

• Nurses must not transmit or place online individually identifiable patient information.


• Nurses must observe ethically prescribed professional patient-nurse boundaries.


• Nurses should understand that patients, colleagues, institutions and employers may view postings.


• Nurses should take advantage of privacy settings and seek to separate personal and professional information online.


• Nurses should bring content that could harm a patient’s privacy, rights or welfare to the attention of appropriate authorities.


• Nurses should participate in developing institutional policies governing online contact.

A free electronic version of the complete guideline is available to all ANA members.