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18 September/October 2009
On a Friday morning in June,‘nursekama’ is Social media is quickly becoming an
hanging out at a coffee shop surfing the integral way for RNs to share information, To ‘tweet’ or not to ‘tweet’
Internet on her laptop while she enjoys an
earl grey tea with soymilk and a shot of
vanilla. Suddenly, her Google Reader – a
promote the profession and encourage
political action. In the past year, RNAO has
started tweeting about Medicare, posted
W hat would you do if a patient
requested you to be one of her
Facebook “friends?” Should you blog
tool that scans websites for the newest con- items on the best practice guidelines and about a challenging client?
tent – alerts her to a statistic she is anxious to action alerts on the association’s Facebook Rochelle Atkins, a policy and practice
share with the mental health providers, nurs- fan page and uploaded videos such as one consultant at the College of Nurses of
ing colleagues and real-life friends who on the announcement of nurse practitioner- Ontario (CNO), says upholding practice
make up her online community. Setting led clinics to the video-sharing website, standards such as confidentiality, consent,
down her mug, she quickly taps out a mes- YouTube. And thanks to the work of privacy, and maintaining appropriate
sage on her keyboard: 3,616.....The no. of Nursing Students of Ontario members, therapeutic nurse/client relationships is just
Canadians that have been hospitalized for suicide RNAO now has its own page on as important on Twitter as in a trauma unit.
attempts since May 1, ‘09 and sends it into Wikipedia, an online encyclopedia that any- Atkins says becoming ‘friends’ with a
cyberspace with a link to mindyourmind.ca, one can contribute to. patient on a website like Facebook, which
the website where the news originated. RNAO is also developing social net- isn’t set up for care-related communication,
‘Nursekama’ is using Twitter, a social- working tools of its own.The International crosses professional limits laid out in the
networking website that allows users to post Affairs and Best Practice Guidelines College’s Therapeutic Nurse/Client
140-character messages called ‘tweets.’ (IABPG) Program recently introduced the Relationship Standard. “We expect nurses to
‘Followers’ read the messages to stay updated NURSE (Nurses Using Research to Sustain maintain the boundary between a thera-
on the daily activities or topics members of Excellence) Guideline Network, a free site peutic nurse/client relationship and a friend-
their network are interested in. that provides resources for implementing ship,” Atkins explains. “Communication
‘Nursekama,’ or Kamini Kalia as she’s the BPGs and allows users to share expertise outside that becomes an issue.”
known in real life, is a related to various guide- Atkins says referring to individual
clinical nurse specialist “There is a lines. And an online patients or clients when blogging or tweet-
w h o wo r k s i n t h e RNAO community is ing is also inappropriate. Mentioning a
Psychosis Program at vast potential for currently being devel- patient’s name, diagnosis, unique circum-
St. Joseph’s Regional oped so members who stances or any other information that
tapping into the
Mental Health Care live in the same regions makes it possible to identify an individual
in London and St. technologies to of the province or who violates the Personal Health Information
Thomas. Last year, she work in similar practice Protection Act (PHIPA). While most nurses
discovered that using transfer knowledge, areas can talk about the would never consider breaching patient
Twitter was an effective RNAO initiatives they’re confidentiality in this way, a few do lose
share stories, most interested in.
way to spread the word sight of their professional standards online.
about the three nursing advocate for health, RN Robert Fraser Karen Puckrin, the CNO’s Manager of
topics Kalia says she says it’s exciting to see Reports, says that in the past few years the
is most passionate about: educate patients more and more RNs College has received complaints and reports
mental health and psy- using these tools because about nurses who have posted patients’
and network.” they make it possible to
chiatry; interprofessional conditions, treatment needs and even their
education; and collabo- get the latest knowledge names online. In one case, a patient con-
rative practice. She uses Twitter to find out and information quickly. tacted the College when he discovered his
what experts are saying, share research find- “There is vast potential for tapping into nurse had blogged about him.
ings, promote conferences, websites and the technologies to transfer knowledge, “Every complaint is assessed individually,”
documentaries and to stay in touch with share stories, advocate for health, educate Puckrim says. “The College could ask a
health-care professionals in Canada and patients and network,” he says. nurse to review practice standards or meet
other countries. When Fraser was an undergraduate with CNO staff to discuss accountability for
“Twitter is also an opportunity for me nursing student working on a project at protecting a client’s confidentiality.”
to further my advocacy work,” explains Southlake Regional Health Centre in Puckrin also says nurses should follow a
Kalia. “Stigma is one of the greatest issues Newmarket, he asked his Twitter followers simple rule when online: if you wouldn’t
that we want to overcome in mental health. what types of policies their health-care discuss something on a crowded elevator,
Since it’s a social issue, I thought that social organizations had on nasogastric and suc- you shouldn’t post it on a website. RN
media could be used to counteract it. tioning tubes. Within a day and a half, he
Illustration: José Ortega
Through Twitter, I can support people in received 24 replies from health-care profes- For more information on standards, call the
their own anti-stigma initiatives, express sionals across the United States. Today, CNO Practice Line at 1-800-387-5526 ext.
my own thoughts or share the experiences Fraser is working on a Masters in Nursing 6397 or e-mail ppd@cnomail.org.
of those who live with mental illness.” at the University of Toronto and tweets a
20 September/October 2009