• building and maintaining professional relationships
• establishing or accessing nursing and midwifery support networks and being able to discuss specific issues, interests, research and clinical experiences with other healthcare professionals globally
• being able to access resources for continuing professional development (CPD)
This document provides guidance for nurses and midwives on how to use social media and social networking sites responsibly and in line with the requirements of the Code.
The principles outlined in this guidance can also generally be applied to other kinds of online communication, such as personal websites and blogs, discussion boards and general content shared online, including text, photographs, images, video and audio files.
How the Code can be applied to social media use
The Code contains a series of statements that taken together signify what good nursing and midwifery practice looks like. It is important that you display a commitment to these standards including:
“Ensure that you use all forms of oral, written and digital communication (including social media and networking sites) responsibly”.
Nurses and midwives may put their registration at risk, and students may jeopardise their ability to join our register, if they act in any way that is unprofessional or unlawful on social media including (but not limited to):
- sharing confidential information inappropriately
posting pictures of patients and people receiving care without their consent
bullying, intimidating or exploiting people
building or pursing relationships with patients or service users
stealing personal information or using someone else’s identity
encouraging violence or self-harm
inciting hatred or discrimination