Nursing in the 21st Century - Building your online media presence

Being a nurse in the 21st century

Currently I belong to the College of Nurses of Ontario.  There is an entrance exam for your license and then you are held accountable to the standards of practice.  In the past I have belonged to the Registered Nurses Association of Ontario (RNAO) for networking and legal protection. I have also belonged to the Interventional Radiology Nurses Association, which is a professional group in the U.S.A, for education opportunities and networking.

My profession integrates with many other professions.  We collaborate to develop and provide optimal patient care. This professions may be associated with healthcare, Informatics, business, communications, organizational development,  procurement, and education. These professions work together to develop action plans for the patient journey including direct patient care, financial reimbursement, community engagement, sustainability, future planning and the technology associated to the work. These professionals link the front line care to Ontario Health, who ultimately uses the data to make decisions around the future of care in the province.



Building Your Online Media Presence as an Experienced Nurse: A Practical Guide 

 

As a "seasoned nurse" (a.k.a. older and have been practicing a while) you have accumulated your knowledge and experience. At this point in your career, you may not see the value in creating an online media presence?  

 

Why Should you Build an Online Presence 

1. Share Your Nursing experience: As nurses it is important to share your insights with a larger audience. Your role in mentoring new nurses, offering health teaching, or sharing your personal nursing experiences can be very impactful. Particularly those of us who have worked through exceptional challenges such as those brought forward during the Covid-19 Pandemic.  

2. Create professional connections: Share knowledge with and get ideas from other professional nurses working in Canada and Internationally. 

 

What do I need to consider before I start? 

Look to your National, Regional and/or Territorial guidelines for standards and guidelines. 

 

For those practicing in Ontario 

The College of Nurses (CNO) has professional standards for appropriate social media usage. The standards are associated to the International Nurse Collaborative position statement outlining the "6 P’s”  to consider.  

Professional - Act professionally at all times, Positive - Keep posts positive, Patient/Person- free-Keep posts patient or person free, Protect  yourself - Protect your professionalism, your reputation and yourself, Privacy - Keep your personal and professional life separate; respect privacy of others, Pause before you post - Consider  implications; avoid posting in haste or anger  

In addition, the CNO has Code of Conduct principles for nurses.  In principle number four they state, “Nurses demonstrate professionalism and treat all health care team members with respect in all contexts, including on social media”. 

Finally, the Registered Nurse Association of Ontario (RNAO) has released guidelines for nurses regarding social media.  That discusses how to be respectful, professional and ethical in your how you utilize social media as a nurse. 

 

Other resources and links found on X at #MHST601 

References 

College of Nurses of Ontario (2024, August) Code of Conduct. https://cno.org/Assets/CNO/Documents/Standard-and-Learning/Practice-Standards/incr-social-media-use-common-expectations-for-nurses.pdf 

Professional Nurse Regulator Collaboration (2016) Social Media Use Common Expectation for nurses. https://cno.org/Assets/CNO/Documents/Standard-and-Learning/Practice-Standards/incr-social-media-use-common-expectations-for-nurses.pdf 

Registered Nurse Association of Ontario (2024) Social Media Guidelines. https://rnao.ca/news/socialmediaguideline 

 


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