The Ethical Use of Social Media in Nursing Practice Assignment Sample

Nursing Transition - Part 1

The period of transitions involve movement or passage from one condition to another and it can majorly influence lives of people involved along with their family, friends and peers. The first year of practice is the most stressful time for the nursing graduates and this transition period from fresh graduate to entering registered practice is the most stressful time for them (Aqila et al., 2019). Newly graduate nurses face a host of challenges that impact their successful transition to practice. One of the major challenges faced by them is the theory-practice gap where they face and encounter difficulties in handling emergencies, basic procedures and lack experience and confidence (Wong et al., 2018). They face a lot of situations in the ward which they were not taught in their theory. For example, they are expected to perform blood transfusion, which they did not learn in their theory. This gap leads to the building of resentment and negative attitudes in the nurses along with stress as well (Woo et al., 2020). Major strategies that can be employed to relive the nurses of this stress and bridge the gap between theory and practice for them can include- building support in terms of mentoring-on duty. This will help provide support to the nurse especially in the first six month of transition whereby every graduate nurse can be allowed to work with an experienced nurse for the first 6 months. This will help develop the confidence, expertise and hands-on-practical experience for the graduate nurses and help them gain more autonomy in patient care (Aqila et al., 2019). Another strategy that can be used is pre-RN training and orientation program whereby they provide a revision of the basic nursing skills and impart advanced skills, such as blood transfusion and resuscitation as well (Wong et al., 2018). This will help in improved adaptation to work and effective transition as well.

Nursing Transition - Part 2

The major differences between the role of a student nurse and a graduate registered nurse involve their responsibilities and duties. As a nursing student, there exist lesser responsibilities in terms of direct contact with patients. Also, all the work done by the student nurses is under proper supervision of the clinical instructor or the school teacher or the registered nurse –on duty. Whereas, as a graduate registered nurse the work involves direct involvement with the patients in the ward (Hofler et al., 2016). There are greater responsibilities and all the work done with regards to patient care and the ward is the direct responsibility of the graduate registered nurse unlike the student nurse. He/she is directly accountable and questionable on the kind, type and quality of patient care she is imparting to the patients. Another major difference is in terms of accountability and responsibility where the student nurses are neither accountable nor responsible for the patients, no where are they supposed to sign or can be traced back to the care they provide to the patient. Their in-charges are responsible for them whereas, in the case of a graduate registered nurse, she is accountable and responsible and her work can be traced back to the signatures and entries mentioned on the record sheets. So, she has to be more careful and particular about her work (Barnes, 2015). Student nurses fall under the purview of unregulated providers of care where their work description is under the aegis of the employer-clinical school of nursing, whereas, RNs are regulated providers responsible for defining their work on their own. Also, as a student nurse, the major role is to study and learn the theory – gain knowledge and education about the subject whereas, as a graduate registered nurse, there has to be a practical application of this theory into clinical skills and competence (Manoochehri et al., 2015). These differences in the roles make it difficult for a smooth transition to occur if proper support is not provided.

Nursing Transition - Part 3

Social media has been described as revolution and has become a major part of communication nowadays, especially the millennial generation. It is impacting different fields, occupations and workplaces as well. It is most commonly defined as a double edged sword where it has its own benefits and losses as well (Asiri et al., 2016). In the nursing profession, it can be used as an effective tool for continuing professional development and enhancing nursing practice (Mather et al., 2017). However, it also has certain negative implications in terms of maintaining professional privacy and confidentiality of the patients by posting blogs and posts on social media describing their specific cases and experiences with patients; and, upholding the principle of non-maleficence towards their patients as the posts about recent care provision to patients puts the identity of the patient in danger and violates the code of ethics as well (Henderson et al., 2015). In terms of CPD, it has a number of positive influences and can help in development of online –participatory education where different nursing professionals and educators from different places can connect to share their expertise and knowledge along with experiences and specific complicated cases studies as well. This will help in building knowledge, awareness and skills and encourage peer learning (Limoges et al., 2019). Another use of social media in CPD could be the use of social media as a tool for revalidation support which is a method of post-registration practice and education. It helps provide more avenues for education, and ways to engage both nationally and internationally to share, publish, collaborate, discuss and network in terms of nurse education through webinars (Moorley and Chinn., 2019). Also, it helps in reflection via tweet posts and blog posts, ensuring the privacy of the patient also. It can be said that use of social media has developed to a form of evolution in nursing practice and will help in furthering and continuing professional education effectively, however it must be used cautiously, so as to uphold the ethics and codes of nursing practice.

Reference for The Ethical Use of Social Media in Nursing Practice

Aqila, S. A. S., Rabi’atul, A. S., Annamma, K., Teh Halimaton, R., & Hamidah, H. (2019). Reflection of New Graduate Nurses on the Transition Program Conducted in the Selected Malaysian Private Hospitals. Journal of Patient Care, 5(144), 2. DOI: https://www.longdom.org/open-access/reflection-of-new-graduate-nurses-on-the-transition-program-conducted-in-the-selected-malaysian-private-hospitals.pdf

Asiri, H., & Househ, M. S. (2016). The impact of Twitter and Facebook on nursing practice and education: a systematic review of the literature. ICIMTH 267-270. DOI:
10.3233/978-1-61499-664-4-267

Barnes, H. (2015). Exploring the factors that influence nurse practitioner role transition. The Journal for Nurse Practitioners, 11(2), 178-183. DOI: 10.1016/j.nurpra.2014.11.004

Henderson, M., & Dahnke, M. D. (2015). The ethical use of social media in nursing practice. Medsurg Nursing, 24(1), 62. DOI: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26306360/

Hofler, L., & Thomas, K. (2016). Transition of new graduate nurses to the workforce: Challenges and solutions in the changing health care environment. North Carolina Medical Journal, 77(2), 133-136. DOI: https://doi.org/10.18043/ncm.77.2.133

Limoges, J., Nielsen, K., MacMaster, L., & Kontni, R. (2019). Globally networked learning: Deepening Canadian and Danish nursing students' understanding of nursing, culture and health. Nurse Education Today, 76, 228-233. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nedt.2019.02.006

Manoochehri, H., Imani, E., Atashzadeh-Shoorideh, F., & Alavi-Majd, A. (2015). Competence of novice nurses: role of clinical work during studying. Journal of Medicine and Life, 8(4), 32. DOI: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5319286/

Mather, C. A., Gale, F., & Cummings, E. A. (2017). Governing mobile technology use for continuing professional development in the Australian nursing profession. BMC Nursing, 16(1), 1-11. DOI: https://bmcnurs.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12912-017-0212-8

Moorley, C., & Chinn, T. (2019). Social media participatory CPD for nursing revalidation, professional development and beyond. British Journal of Nursing, 28(13), 870-877. DOI: 10.12968/bjon.2019.28.13.870

Wong, S. W. J., Che, W. S. W., Cheng, M. T. C., Cheung, C. K., Cheung, T. Y. J., Lee, K. Y., ... & Yip, S. L. (2018). Challenges of fresh nursing graduates during their transition period. Journal of Nursing Education and Practice, 8(6), 30-37. DOI: https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/676b/9128f9d204f5a89d0e83a9f407d961e0e1af.pdf

Woo, M. W. J., & Newman, S. A. (2020). The experience of transition from nursing students to newly graduated registered nurses in Singapore. International Journal of Nursing Sciences, 7(1), 81-90. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijnss.2019.11.002

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