As part of my Master’s program at Athabasca University, I had to complete an audit of my online presence. We were asked to Google ourselves and discuss the findings. I was nervous to complete this search, due to the uncertainty of what may or may not be there. After the rush of anxiety and nerves of what might be present, I was immediately let down and underwhelmed with the lack of my online presence. There were a few personal items, my grandparent’s obituaries, a fishing achievement and my salary for the last few years, but what was very obvious, was the lack of any professional information.
I am not sure why any of this surprised me, as I have been very deliberate in keeping my personal social media’s pages private, not using my last name, not adding my place of work or adding “work pages”, increased privacy setting and only allowing people I know access to these pages. I have had a strong belief that my work life and personal life are very separate, but are they? Should they be? Nursing is part of who I am, so why have I been so reluctant to identify with that on social media? After doing some self-reflection I have concluded this has mostly been due to fear. Fear of the unknown, fear of making a mistake, or fear of not adhering to professional standards. I am from Generation X. Computers were rolled out into schools towards the end of my education and while I may be aging myself, who remembers the commodore 64’s and floppy disc’s? Why is this important? I believe my lack of knowledge and experience with the online world early in my career caused a fear-based decision to avoid a professional social media page or presence. I have never revisited that decision or reasons for it until this course.
I have found myself wondering what is an appropriate professional social media presence? And what do I want my professional identity to be? I am a very proud registered nurse and I do want my online legacy to reflect that. The question of appropriateness, I believe is a personal choice but there are standards we must adhere to set out by our governing bodies. As a nurse in Manitoba, we have a responsibility to uphold the practice standards of the College of Registered Nurses on Manitoba, which states we have an obligation to “maintain public confidence in the profession” (CRNM 2023) which in my opinion includes what we post and how we share information online. CRNM required all registered nurses in Manitoba to complete a “Pause Before You Post: Social Media awareness” learning module prior to license renewal in 2020, as social media and sharing of information online became more polarizing.
Most nurses know what they cannot post on social media and unfortunately a lot of discussions in the work place and with governing bodies focus on the misuse of social media and the dangers of such verses discussing the benefits health care professionals can have on these platforms. Nurses play a very important role in the Canadian health care system and have a responsibility to provide and share accurate information in regards to health promotion and disease prevention. The Covid 19 pandemic highlighted the benefits of sharing accurate information and dangers of sharing misinformation on social media.
My goal moving forward is to increase my professional social media presence with a focus on health promotion and education. I will remain cognizant of what I post and how it may reflect on professional values and the organization I work for. Educating the public on the profession of nursing and the advancement of the profession is very important to me. When my son googles my name in 10 years from now, I hope he will be proud of what he finds about his mom, nurse Gillian.
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