We Can, but Dare We? Guidelines

We Can, but Dare We? Guidelines

Purpose

The purpose of this assignment is to investigate smartphone and social media use in healthcare and to apply professional, ethical, and legal principles to the appropriate use in healthcare versus personal technology.

Course OutcomesThis assignment enables the student to meet the following course outcomes.

CO #2: Investigate safeguards and decision-making support tools embedded in patient care technologies and information systems to support a safe practice environment for both patients and healthcare workers. (PO #4)

CO #6: Discuss the principles of data integrity, professional ethics, and legal requirements related to data security, regulatory requirements, confidentiality, and client’s right to privacy. (PO #6)

Due Date

Your completed We Can, but Dare We? Paper is due at the end of Week 3. Submit it to the basket in the Dropbox by Sunday at 11:59 p.m. MT. Post your questions to the weekly Q & A Forum. Contact your instructor if you need additional assistance. See the Course Policies regarding late assignments. Failure to submit your paper to the Dropbox on time may result in a deduction of points.

Refer to the Course Calendar for details. The Late Assignment Policy applies to this assignment.

Total Points Possible

This assignment is worth a total of 300 points.

Requirements

You are to research, compose, and type a scholarly paper based on the scenario described above. Choose one ending to the scenario to discuss within the body of your paper. Reflect on what you have learned in this class to date about technology, privacy concerns, and legal and ethical issues. These concepts must be addressed in your paper as you consider the use of smartphones and social media in healthcare. Consider the consequences of such a scenario. Do not limit your review of the literature to the nursing discipline only. Other health professionals are using the technology, and you may need to apply critical thinking skills to its applications in this scenario.

Use Microsoft Word and APA formatting. Consult your copy of the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, sixth edition, as well as the resources in Doc Sharing if you have questions (e.g., margin size, font type and size (point), use of third person, etc.). Take advantage of the writing service SmartThinking, which is accessed by clicking on the link called the Tutor Source, found under the Course Home area.

The length of the paper should be four to five pages, excluding the title page and the reference page. Limit the references to a few key sources (minimum of three required).

The paper will contain an introduction that catches the attention of the reader with interesting facts and supporting sources of evidence, which should be included as in-text citations. The body should present the advantages and disadvantages regarding the use of smartphones and social media in healthcare and apply professional, ethical, and legal principles to the appropriate use of this technology. The conclusion and recommendations should summarize your findings after choosing one of the four possible conclusion options (see explanation below).  Discuss your reflection(s) and what you have learned regarding the scenario and potential outcomes that resulted. Make your case based on the evidence you have collected.

• NOTE: Review the section on Academic Honesty found in the Chamberlain Course Policies. All work must be original (in your own words). Your paper will automatically be submitted to TurnItIn when submitted to the Dropbox. Please do not submit the paper multiple times!

Submit the completed paper to the “We Can, but Dare We?” Dropbox by Sunday, 11:59 p.m. MT, by the end of Week 3. Please post questions about this assignment to the weekly Q & A Forums so that the entire class may view the answers.

Preparing the Assignment

Background

Healthcare is readily embracing any technology to improve patient outcomes, streamline operations, and lower costs, but we must also consider the impact of such technology on privacy and patient care. This technology includes the use of social media applications, such as Facebook, Instagram, MySpace, Twitter, and LinkedIn on smartphones.

In healthcare today, smartphones are widely used for communication, efficiency, and care. Obviously, a variety of issues (ethical, professional, and legal) from both the personal and hospital perspectives must be considered.

Scenario

You are a nurse in the emergency room, working the Friday 7 p.m. to 7 a.m. shift, and your evening has been filled with the usual mix of drunken belligerent teens, wailing babies, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) exacerbations, falls, fractures, and the routine, regular congestive heart failure (CHF) patients. Your best friend is texting you from the concert that you had to miss tonight because you were scheduled to work, and you respond to her between care of patients, jealous that she is there and you are not. “What a jerk to torture me like this!” you think to yourself.

It is now 2 a.m., and the medics radio once again, notifying you of an incoming motor vehicle accident victim, ETA of 5 minutes. You sigh and opt to use the restroom, rather than getting that much-needed cup of coffee, and prepare a room for your next patient. The medics roll in and begin to fill you in. The patient is a 28-year-old male, a passenger on a bus that was involved in a crash, leaving the vehicle overturned after rolling over an embankment. There were several fatalities among the bus passengers, and “this victim has remained unconscious, though his vitals are currently” . . . and as you start to focus on the patient, you take a second look. Can it be? It is! The lead singer, Jerod, from the band “Blue Lizards,” who you have adored since you first heard his voice! The band had just left the concert that you had missed last evening when the accident occurred. You quickly text your best friend . . . “Can you believe?” and she responds with “Yeah, right. PROVE IT.” So you quickly snap a picture with your smartphone, when alone with the patient, and send it to her. Can’t hurt, right? Celebrities are “public property,” and that’s a part of their life, right? Just for good measure, you snap a few more pictures of the unconscious singer in various stages of undress and then a shot of his home address, phone number, and demographic information from his electronic health record. You sit your phone down on the bedside table for a minute as you continue your assessment of the patient.

At 7:00 a.m., you drag your tired body home and straight to bed after a long but eventful night.

What happens next? Choose a conclusion, and construct your paper based on those reflections:

1. You are the following nurse on the day shift and discover the night nurse’s phone on the bedside table. Trying to figure out whom it belongs to, you open the phone and see the photographs taken the night before. Holy moly! What a find, and nobody could trace you to the photos.
2. You receive a call from the gossip paper the Gossip Gazette, offering you $20,000 for the photos you have taken (courtesy of your best friend). Your identity would never be revealed, and you desperately need a new car and are behind on some bills.
3. You go on Facebook, on your day off, and talk about the night you had at work and how you didn’t really feel as bad having to miss the concert, because you actually got to meet Jerod in person and even “Got his number!” You then post a picture of Jerod on Facebook and Instagram, figuring that most of your contacts would never recognize him anyway. It’s your day off and your personal time, so no harm, no foul, right?
4. You receive a message the next morning from a peer at work that there is a big investigation being conducted at work due to a HIPAA violation and that it involved a celebrity who had been admitted to the hospital. The word is that legal action is being taken against the hospital due to some photos that were sold to the Gossip Gazette. Knowing that your only sent photo is safe with your best friend, you reach for your smartphone . . . and it is nowhere to be found.

Directions and Assignment Criteria

Assignment Criteria	Points	%	Description
Introduction	60	20%	The introduction provides evidence of an information search, including in-text citations of the sources of evidence. It catches the reader’s attention with interesting facts and supporting sources.
Body	150	50%	Appropriate APA headers are used to delineate when the introduction ends. Discussion regarding HIPAA regulatory requirements is required, discussed briefly and supported by citations. List three advantages and three disadvantages of the use of smartphones and social media in healthcare. Content reflects chosen conclusion scenario within the body of the paper. Be sure to support with citations from professional resources.
Conclusion and Recommendations	60	20%	Appropriate APA headers are used, making clear the conclusion chosen, and the recommendations are based on solid evidence, personal privacy rights, and ethical principles. Writing in third person, state your position on healthcare privacy, and personally reflect on your learning from this assignment.
Scholarly Writing and APA Format	30	10%	Title page, running head, and page numbers are used. (3 points) Introduction, body, and conclusion and recommendations sections are clearly labeled. There is a logical flow between the sections. (10 points) Grammar, punctuation, and sentence structure are correct. (5 points) Citations throughout demonstrate support of student’s ideas and opinions. (5 points) Reference page includes all citations. (5 points) There is evidence of a spelling and grammar check. (2 points)