References
Live tweeting by ambulance services: a growing concern
Abstract
Despite advances in technology being a driver of paramedic professional development, particularly over the past decade, the introduction of new forms of technology appears to have presented paramedics with some professional challenges. Paramedics, pre-hospital clinicians, and ambulance service providers in both the United Kingdom and Australia, have begun using social media technology to communicate what they do to the general public. Unfortunately some of the material that has been communicated appears to breach professional standards of practice, and therefore has the potential to cause harm to the patient, the individual paramedic, and the paramedic profession more broadly. This article will present the rationale behind why this behaviour is unprofessional, ethically and legally unsound, and why it must cease. We offer a tool that will assist paramedics, and other healthcare professionals, to practise safe and professional social media use in their workplace.
As registered health professionals, paramedics in the United Kingdom are required to conduct themselves in a manner that aligns with their professional code of conduct (Health and Care Professions Council, 2016). This code specifies ethical and legal standards, which must be upheld in paramedic practice. These codes sit alongside various other legal and policy instruments that regulate paramedic practice such as the Health and Social Work Professions Order 2001 (UK Parliament, 2001); HCPC Standards of Proficiency (Health and Care Professions Council, 2014), and local social media policies (London Ambulance Service, 2013).
Together these regulations provide guidance for practitioners about how to practise as a professional, and thus provide competent and safe care that maintains the protection of the patient, the individual paramedic, and the paramedic profession more broadly. However, recent examples have demonstrated that some paramedics appear to be unclear about how to professionally engage the use of social media in their practice and in so doing put patients, themselves, and the profession more broadly at risk.
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