Assignment tas: Prepare a 2 page Interprofessional staff update on HIPAA and appropriate social media use in health care.
Health care providers today must develop their skills in mitigating risks to their patients and themselves related to patient information. At the same time, they need to be able distinguish between effective and ineffective uses of social media in health care.
This assessment will require you to develop a staff update for an interprofessional team to encourage team members to protect the privacy, confidentiality, and security of patient information.
Health professionals today are increasingly accountable for the use of protected health information (PHI). Various government and regulatory agencies promote and support privacy and security through a variety of activities. Examples include:
- Meaningful use of electronic health records (EHR).
- Provision of EHR incentive programs through Medicare and Medicaid.
- Enforcement of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) rules.
- Release of educational resources and tools to help providers and hospitals address privacy, security, and confidentiality risks in their practices.
Technological advances, such as the use of social media platforms and applications for patient progress tracking and communication, have provided more access to health information and improved communication between care providers and patients.
At the same time, advances such as these have resulted in more risk for protecting PHI. Nurses typically receive annual training on protecting patient information in their everyday practice. This training usually emphasizes privacy, security, and confidentiality best practices such as:
- Keeping passwords secure.
- Logging out of public computers.
- Sharing patient information only with those directly providing care or who have been granted permission to receive this information.
Today, one of the major risks associated with privacy and confidentiality of patient identity and data relates to social media. Many nurses and other health care providers place themselves at risk when they use social media or other electronic communication systems inappropriately. For example, a Texas nurse was recently terminated for posting patient vaccination information on Facebook. In another case, a New York nurse was terminated for posting an insensitive emergency department photo on her Instagram account.
For this assessment, you will prepare a two-page interprofessional staff update on HIPAA and appropriate social media use in health care. Before you complete the detailed instructions in the course room, first select one of the settings below that will become the focus of your interprofessional staff updates.
After you have selected one of the two settings below, return to the course room to review the assessment instructions and grading rubric prior to completing your assessment.
1. Skilled Nursing Facility:
o Context: Skilled nursing facilities (SNFs) provide therapeutic services, rehabilitation, and continuous nursing care for patients who aren't in an acute phase of illness but still require specialized care. Residents often stay for extended periods, and there's a close-knit community feel.
o Social Media Concern: Sharing moments from daily activities, therapies, or resident interactions can breach patient privacy, even if done with the best intentions.
2. Mental Health and Rehabilitation Centers:
o Context: These centers cater to individuals with mental health issues or those undergoing rehabilitation for substance abuse. The stigma associated with mental health and addiction makes privacy paramount.
o Social Media Concern: Discussing patient progress, sharing stories, or even describing daily challenges can lead to unintentional disclosure of sensitive patient information.
3. Review the infographics on protecting PHI provided in the resources for this assessment, or find other infographics to review. These infographics serve as examples of how to succinctly summarize evidence-based information.
o Analyze these infographics and distill them into five or six principles of what makes them effective. As you design your interprofessional staff update, apply these principles. Note: In a staff update, you will not have all the images and graphics that an infographic might contain. Instead, focus your analysis on what makes the messaging effective.
4. Select from any of the following options, or a combination of options, as the focus of your interprofessional staff update:
o Social media best practices.
o What not to do: social media.
o Social media risks to patient information.
o Steps to take if a breach occurs.
First, select one of the health care settings described in the following resource:
5. Skilled Nursing Facility:
o Context: Skilled nursing facilities (SNFs) provide therapeutic services, rehabilitation, and continuous nursing care for patients who aren't in an acute phase of illness but still require specialized care. Residents often stay for extended periods, and there's a close-knit community feel.
o Social Media Concern: Sharing moments from daily activities, therapies, or resident interactions can breach patient privacy, even if done with the best intentions.
6. Mental Health and Rehabilitation Centers:
o Context: These centers cater to individuals with mental health issues or those undergoing rehabilitation for substance abuse. The stigma associated with mental health and addiction makes privacy paramount.
o Social Media Concern: Discussing patient progress, sharing stories, or even describing daily challenges can lead to unintentional disclosure of sensitive patient information.
As a nurse in this setting, you are asked to create the content for a staff update containing a maximum of two content pages that address one or more of these topics:
- Social media best practices.
- What not to do: social media.
- Social media risks to patient information.
- Steps to take if a breach occurs.
This assessment is not a traditional essay. It is a staff educational update about PHI. Consider creating a flyer, pamphlet, or one PowerPoint slide (not an entire presentation). Remember it should not be more than two pages (excluding a title and a reference page).
The task force has asked team members assigned to the topics to include the following content in their updates in addition to content on their selected topics:
- What is protected health information (PHI)?
o Be sure to include essential HIPAA information.
- What are privacy, security, and confidentiality?
o Define and provide examples of privacy, security, and confidentiality concerns related to the use of technology in health care.
o Explain the importance of interdisciplinary collaboration to safeguard sensitive electronic health information.
- What evidence relating to social media usage and PHI do interprofessional team members need to be aware of? For example:
o What are some examples of nurses being terminated for inappropriate social media use in the United States?
o What types of sanctions have health care organizations imposed on interdisciplinary team members who have violated social media policies?
o What have been the financial penalties assessed against health care organizations for inappropriate social media use?
o What evidence-based strategies have health care organizations employed to prevent or reduce confidentiality, privacy, and security breaches, particularly related to social media usage?