Implications of the nursing student’s use of Twitter

Scenario
A second-year Practical Nursing student, Thomas is assigned to a surgical unit and enters a patient’s room to conduct his initial assessment. The 80-year-old patient, Jim Greaves, had a bowel resection done two days ago. When Thomas arrives at the bedside, he uses his iPhone to enter a question regarding the best practice wound care for a post op bowel resection. Mr. Greaves seems agitated with Thomas and his use of a smartphone at his bedside. At lunchtime, Thomas posts a question to his nurse friends on Twitter™ about Mr. Greaves’ care plan. In doing so, he reveals a significant amount of the patient’s personal information and makes a disparaging comment about the patient’s “ridiculous annoyance” with Thomas' use of the iPhone. Thomas is made aware by his Colleagues that this was inappropriate

1. Discuss the implications of the nursing student’s use of Twitter at the bedside.
2. Discuss the use of social media for this purpose. What are the ethical, professional responsibility, accountability and the development of the therapeutic relationship factors that Thomas must consider?
3. Identify any legal/ethical concerns to be addressed in this scenario
4. What actions might Thomas take to address the patient’s concern.
5. What is the obligation of the Student Nurse to the patient in sharing that a breach in confidentiality has occurred?
6. How might the Nurse Manager deal with Thomas in this situation