Privacy, Professionalism, and Social Media

Running head: ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY
ANNONATED BIBLIGRAPHY
Name of the Student:
Name of the University:
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1ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY
Bibliographic details
Johnstone, M. J. (2016). Privacy, professionalism and social media. Australian Nursing and
Midwifery Journal, 23(7), 23.
Brief Summary
In this article, Johnstone (2016) discusses extensively on issues of privacy and confidentiality
which must be ensured by professional nurses when engaging in online platforms and digital
based discussions. At present, with the onset of advancements in technology and media, social
media platforms have increasingly emerged as easily accessible environments for individuals to
exchange views, including clinical or professional information by healthcare personnel such as
nurse. Considering the existence of a negligible questioning and restrictions, nurses must be well
aware of the consequences of their digital actions, especially in majors areas of privacy breaches
as well as hindering personal as well as others’ professional credibility. Issues like unawareness
on consequences of unprofessionalism, cultural and anonymity influences and the extent of
manipulation and control over personal or professional actions – emerge as key influencers of
unethical privacy breaches by nurses across virtual platforms. To prevent the same, nurses must
adhere to the professional standards and backgrounds established by notable organizations like
the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (AHPRA) and Nursing and Midwifery
Board of Australia (NMBA). Lack of engagement to the same, will result in disciplinary action
undertaken against nurses in question in addition to personal embarrassment.

2ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY
Evaluation
Considering that the usage of social media and virtual communication channels are widespread
across non-clinical and clinical personnel alike, especially nurses, a key strength of this article
lies in its extensive discussion of a comparatively recent and relevant issue. Further, the article’s
strength lies in its comprehensive explanation of the causative factors underlying the nurses’
execution of online behaviors associated with breaches in privacy. Additionally, the article is
also advantageous in terms of providing information on organizations whose guidelines nurses
can adhere to for the purpose of ensuring avoidance of privacy breaches when administering
posts online. However major limitations of the article, lies in its lack of adequate expansion on
reasons influencing privacy breaches considering difficulties in understanding merely points.
Further, the article does not provide information on the role of academic institutions and nursing
curriculum in educating privacy guidelines to nurses – hence highlighting incomprehensive
information (Mariano et al., 2018).
State of Relevance
Upon extensive reading, it can be understood that the article is highly relevant to the nursing
profession. Nurses play a key role in ensuring achievement of positive health outcomes in the
patient for which, they are required to handle sensitive patient information which must be kept
strictly confidential and private (Chinn, 2017). Further the article also extensive mentions the
need for nurses to adhere to guidelines of privacy outlined by the NMBA as well as the AHPRA.
Indeed, the NMBA Code of Conduct’s Principle 3.5 dictates nurses on the need to legally and
ethically oblige to maintenance of privacy and security of sensitive patient details (Nursing and
Midwifery Board of Australia, 2019). Similarly, the relevance of this article in terms of nursing
context can be associated with the AHPRA’s Social Media Policy which necessitates health