Case 14-A: Social Networking Gone Wrong A young doctor at a local community hosp
ID: 339157 • Letter: C
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Case 14-A: Social Networking Gone Wrong A young doctor at a local community hospital was upset their loss of hospital privileges for six months, during by content posted by other doctors, nurses, and interns which time they were to work in the local poverty health on a popular social networking site. These doctors and center. They were also to participate in extensive sens nurses discussed their work, including specific cases they ivity training programs. The hospital administration had. Their postings included derogatory comments and accepted the recommendations and presented them to the slurs about the economically disadvantaged, mentally dis- doctors and nurses. turbed, and homosexual clients they treated on a regular basis. They also commented that the upper-class citizenry the stipulation that after completing the six-month they and politicians of the city deigned not to use the services were to return to full hospital status. The expectation of of the hospital, preferring instead to go to a large privately hospital administration was that the doctors and nurses owned hospital outside of town. Photos of these doc would be committed to moving ahead and working to get tors and nurses on their pages showed them in hospital the incident behind them, while the hospital would work uniforms with the logo and name of the hospital clearly to improve relationships with the community visible. The doctors and nurses accepted their discipline with The young doctor who was upset by the materia RESPONDING TO THE CASE viewable on the website reported it to his supervising phy 14-14. Was it appropriate for hospital administration to sician. The supervisor worked with hospital administra tion to pursue the complaints. The hospital made sure to work with the Amendment rights of the doctors and nurses involved. discipline the doctors and nurses for behavior that occurred outside the hospital environment? Why or why not city's legal department to respect the First 14-15. If you were the supervisor who received the infor- hospital review board met behind closed doors to examine the complaint and the behavior of the doctors and nurses to recommend discipline in the matter. mation regarding the social networking site post ings, what would your reaction have been? Ultimately, the review board recommended wrtten 14-16. Was this case an example of effective discipline? censure of the doctors and nurses involved along with Why or why not?Explanation / Answer
14.14 - Yes, it was appropriate for hospital administration to discipline the doctors. They were bringing a bad name to the hospital and breaking doctor-patient secrecy by disclosing facts about their patients being economically disadvantaged and homosexuals. Further, they were putting the hospital as a poor working space with low-quality services where the rich don't come. The hospital administration needed to step in and curb this behavior.
14.15 - The acts of the doctors and nurses on social media were humiliating and embarrassing for the hospital. As a person in the medical profession, you are charged with an additional responsibility to respect your patients. Your ultimate responsibility is to take care of your patients irrespective of their economic status or sexuality. Further, these doctors and nurses did not respect the hospital as a workplace. Their actions were bringing bad publicity to the hospital. As a supervisor, I may have recommended a stricter action, probably, removal of such staff permanently with no chance to join back.
14.16 - No, the case is not an example of effective discipline. The hospital and staff lacked a supportive relationship between them that led to doctors and nurses cribbing about their work in open social space. The case does not talk about positive reinforcements to increase the desired behavior in doctors/ nurses. The only aspect of effective discipline that was present is "penalty or punishment" for not portraying desired behaviors. Further, we need to understand the outcome of steps taken by the hospital administration.
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