Introduction
The present scenario evidently indicates the requirement of safeguarding protected health information (PHI) of the patients undertaking treatment across various medical facilities. The qualified nurse in the existing scenario surpassed the legal, ethical and professional conventions while encountering a traumatized lead singer in the clinical setting. The transfer of the protected health information of the singer through the smart phone to an unauthorized person and the social web sites, even in a good intent converted the scenario as the subject of a lawsuit requiring legal intervention. The selling of the significant information of the admitted patient to a famous news magazine not only violated the professional norms, but also questioned the ethical conventions followed across the healthcare facility. Therefore, this scholarly paper discusses the requirement of utilizing smart phones and social media within the healthcare facilities in a manner that does not violate the professional and legal conventions in the context of safeguarding the PHI and healthcare of the treated patients.
Outcomes of the Utilization of Smart Phones and Social Media across Healthcare Sector
Advantages
Evidence-based research literature emphasizes the utilization of the point-of-care tools through mobile applications in the context of elevating the precision of medical decision making by healthcare professionals across the clinical settings (Ventola, 2014).
Social media in the present scenario utilized in the context of elevating the awareness of the masses regarding the disease patterns and their treatment strategies. It helps people in understanding their predisposition to the development of various acute and chronic disease conditions in the context of utilizing prophylactic interventions for reducing the burden of diseases across the community environment (George, Rovniak, & Kraschnewski, 2013).
Clinical studies evidently describe the significance of smart phones ineffectively monitoring the activities of the patients affected with various disease conditions attributing to gait abnormalities and stroke patterns (Ozdalga, Ozdalga, & Ahuja, 2012).
Disadvantages
The greatest disadvantage of smart phones and social media relates to the violation of patient confidentiality against the stipulations prescribed by Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) that adversely affect the privacy and healthcare of the treated patient (Ventola, 2014a). The illegal and inappropriate utilization of social media and smart phones in transferring the PHI of the treated patient to any unauthorized person significantly affects the privacy of the patient and violates the ethical and legal obligations of the healthcare professionals in terms of safeguarding the dignity of the patient population.
The digital engagement of patients with the healthcare professionals through social media restrains their appropriate medical evaluation in the absence of face-to-face sessions and elevates the risk of revealing their personal identity and treatment details across the cyber space to the unauthorized individuals (Wong, Merchant, & Morenoc, 2014).
Evidence-based research literature describes the adverse influence of the utilization of smart phones on the cognitive abilities and mental concentration of the healthcare professionals. Therefore, the excessive use of smart phones by physicians and nurses leads to the decrease in the accuracy in patient assessment and quality of treatment interventions that reciprocally influence the patient outcomes across the medical facilities (Gill, Kamath, & Gill, 2012).
Ethical, Professional and Legal Obligations
Evidence-based research literature emphasizes the significance of the electronic health record (EHR) in terms of effectively facilitating the monitoring of disease conditions and elevating the quality of medical interventions across the healthcare settings (McGonigle & Mastrian, 2015, p. 255). However, inappropriate utilization of social media and smart phones for transferring the PHI to any external person or agency leads to the violation of the confidentiality of private information and adversely affects the faith of the treated patients on the rendered clinical interventions. The research findings by (Lee, 2016) reveal the effective utilization of smart phones among a majority of American adults in exploring the health related conditions. The smart phone devices also offer the opportunities to the patient population in terms of adhering to the medication regimen, accessing their own health information and attaining support related to their chronic disease conditions. The dissemination of the significant health information among the patient population as well as the healthcare professionals elevates their awareness level that reciprocally elevates the quality of life and healthcare services across the community environment. The HIPAA privacy convention effectively configures the stipulations related to the protection of the dignity and rights of the patient population across the United States of America (CMS, 2015). These norms restrict the transfer of information related to the demographics, health conditions and healthcare payment history of the treated patients in the absence of their consent to any external agency or entity at any point of time during or after the course of treatment intervention. The breach of this convention with the utilization of social media or smart phones makes the defaulters as the subject of civil or criminal litigation as specified under the statutes of HIPAA administrative conventions.
Smart phones require utilization for accessing the drugs, diseases and diagnoses references in the context of extending qualitative care and treatment to the patient population (Mosa, Yoo, & Sheets, 2012). The guidelines by American Medical Association warrant the configuration of segregated professional and personal profiles of physicians across the web space with the implementation of appropriate privacy settings in effectively delineating the appropriate boundaries between the patients and physicians and providing the most accurate and authentic information to the patient population as well as the healthcare community (Ventola, 2014b). The meticulous implementation of these guidelines necessarily warranted in the context of reducing the risk of inappropriate utilization of smart phones and social media across the healthcare facilities. The smart phone application and social media provide an advantage to physicians in terms of sharing useful clinical information within themselves in the context of assisting each other in the process of medical decision-making. However, physicians while sharing clinical facts must refrain themselves in sharing PHI of the treated patients while following the HIPAA conventions across the hospital environment. The protection of the rights, dignity and privacy of the treated patients will indeed, elevate their trust and compliance to the administered treatment regimen and assist the healthcare community in achieving the highest standard of medical practice in the context of elevating the wellness outcomes.
Recommendations and Conclusion
Smart phones and social media provide various options to the patient population as well as the healthcare professionals in relation to improving their health and wellness across the community environment. Various healthcare mobile applications significantly assist patients in understanding the outcomes of their treatment plan and elevating their compliance with the healthcare regimen. Similarly, the social media proves to be an effective means of accessing the educational content related to diseases and treatment strategies and encourages the participation of the treated patients in medical decision making with the physicians, nurses and other healthcare professionals. Social media is prevalently utilized by the individuals affected with various acute and chronic conditions in the context of sharing useful information and psychosocial experience during the course of treatment intervention. Social networking sites effectively connect the patient population with the healthcare network where the patients attain the opportunity to coordinate with their treating physicians in the context of receiving their guidance and recommendations for avoiding the progression of clinical complications. Smart phones and the social networking platforms prove to be an effective means of sharing the results of treatment interventions between the patient population and healthcare communities in the context of devising effective healthcare strategies for elevating the wellness outcomes across the community environment.
However, healthcare professionals require practicing extra caution while dealing with the smart phones and social media in the context of protecting the privacy of the treated patients. Healthcare professionals must consider the professional, ethical and legal principles and conventions while dealing with the confidential patient information and refrain themselves from utilizing social media in sharing the same with any unauthorized entity. The sensible use of social networking sites and smart phones potentially assists in effectively safeguarding the right and dignity of the patient population during the course of treatment interventions. The consent, choice, contention, autonomy, dignity, safety and privacy of the treated patients must be regarded as significant ethical and professional obligations that each healthcare professional must undertake while effectively rendering care and therapy across the hospital environment (Denecke, et al., 2015). Therefore, the appropriate utilization of smart phones and social media among healthcare professionals in accordance with the professional and legal conventions promises enhancement of healthcare strategies and corresponding treatment outcomes across the hospital environment.
References
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