A North Carolina nurse has been suspended from her job over a TikTok video after viewers of the video complained about her treatment of patients. The North Carolina nurse posted videos to her 32,000 followers and made content about her job. Viewers of her video expressed concern about the videos appearing to joke about mistreating her patients.
The now deleted videos showed the North Carolina nurse joking about giving her patients too many pills, lying about vital signs, or acting as though she does not care when a patient dies. The company that the North Carolina nurse works for has stated that they investigated and acted immediately after they were made aware of the videos.
The nurse denies any wrongdoing and argues that she has been targeted by a form of “cancel culture.” The nurse also stated, “The only thing hurt in my TikTok videos were people’s feelings. All my videos are comedy skits.”
TikTok has banned the nurse’s original account, but she has made a second account and posted a video with the caption, “When trolls get you banned. Like I can’t make a second account.” The nurse has also set up a GoFundMe page titled “TikTok got me fired, so feed my kids,” with a goal of $50,000. Her GoFundMe page has raised $55.
Compliance Perspective
Issue
The facility’s social media policy should be detailed and thorough, and include scenarios that employees are likely to encounter while engaging in social media. All employees should be aware that even when a post is deleted, it can be retrieved through the internet. All employees should be aware that if they violate your social media policy, they can be subject to discipline, up to and including termination for a first offense. Additional information is available in the Med-Net Corporate Compliance and Ethics Manual, Chapter 5 Privacy Plan, PP2.3 Social Media and Networking.
Discussion Points
- Review your policy and procedure on Social Media. Update as needed.
- Train all staff upon orientation, annually, and as needed on your social media policy. Document that these trainings occurred and file each signed document in each employee’s education file.
- Periodically survey employees to ensure that they are aware of the facility’s social media policy and where they can report inappropriate posts.
FOR MORE INFORMATION ON THIS TOPIC VIEW: SOCIAL MEDIA MANAGEMENT EDUCATION: HOW TO HANDLE THE RISK and SOCIAL MEDIA STAFF EDUCATION.
