Revised and Approved October 26, 2021 by School of Nursing Council
Background
The Canadian Nurses’ Association (CNA) defines the term social media (i.e., Facebook, Twitter, Google+, MySpace, YouTube and blogs ) as “a group of Internet based applications and technologies that allow users to have the same kind of real‐time conversation that they might have with friends or neighbours with virtual friends from around the globe. Social media technologies allow users to interact and collaborate with each other online in the creation and sharing of information, ideas, and opinions” (CNA, 2012).
Social media includes: text, images, audio, video, and technology conversations with a few or many people. Some examples of social media include: texting, discussion forums, blogs, social networks, wikis, and podcasts.
Overall Policy
Social media behaviours of nursing students that pertain, but are not limited, to the above examples must be consistent at all times with the following College of Nurses of Ontario documents:
- Practice Standard: Ethics (https://www.cno.org/en/learn-about-standards-guidelines/standards-and-guidelines/);
- Practice Standard: Therapeutic Nurse-Client Relationship (https://www.cno.org/en/learn-about-standards-guidelines/standards-and-guidelines/); and
- Practice Standard: Documentation (https://www.cno.org/en/learn-about-standards-guidelines/standards-and-guidelines/).