Social Media and Electronic Communication
As future professional nurses with a unique obligation and responsibility, nursing students must be cognizant of the public nature of social media and other electronic communication and the permanent nature of communicating therein. These technologies may give the impression of privacy, but postings and other data should be considered in the public realm and freely visible by many people. State and Federal regulations related to confidentiality along with HIPPA require that no patient information be made available to the public. These regulations apply to comments made on social networking sites, and violators are subject to the same disciplinary action as with other HIPAA violations.
In the interest of keeping academic boundaries, faculty will not “friend” students currently enrolled in the School of Nursing on any social media sites such as, but not limited to, Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat or Instagram. Should the student have a "friend status" with a faculty prior to admission to the School of Nursing, the student will inform the faculty of the change of status and the faculty will “Defriend” the student for the duration of the tenure.