Question

He nurses on a medical-surgical unit maintain a shared social media page. Which social media posts written by nurses breach client confidentiality?

a) Sharing general information about common medical conditions.
b) Posting a photo of a medical-surgical unit's celebration without patient identifiers.
c) Discussing a specific client's case without revealing their identity.
d) Describing a challenging situation with a patient without using their name.

Answer 1

Nurses discussing specific client cases or describing challenging patient situations on a shared social media page, even without naming individuals, constitute a breach of client confidentiality if the information shared could lead to patient identification.

Step-by-step explanation:

When nurses on a medical-surgical unit maintain a shared social media page, certain types of posts can breach client confidentiality. Sharing general information about common medical conditions does not violate client confidentiality, as this information is not patient-specific. Posting a photo of the unit's celebration is acceptable as long as it does not include patient identifiers and cannot be linked to any specific patients. However, discussing a specific client's case or describing a challenging situation with a patient, even without using names, may still breach confidentiality. If enough details are provided that someone could recognize the individual described, this is a breach of confidentiality as it can lead to the identification of the patient through context or other identifying information, despite the absence of direct names.