What is your agency or department's policy on social networks?

[Sasha]

I still don't. She didn't go "Man Mr. Jones didn't make it! It's all those cheeseburgers!" She wasn't disrespectful, she didn't even identify what she was talking about, for all anyone knew she could have been talking about saving someone in her horde on wow. dont they die there? Or a new litter of puppies where the runt died or something.

 

[Dominion]

I still don't. She didn't go "Man Mr. Jones didn't make it! It's all those cheeseburgers!" She wasn't disrespectful, she didn't even identify what she was talking about, for all anyone knew she could have been talking about saving someone in her horde on wow. dont they die there? Or a new litter of puppies where the runt died or something.

I agree with Sasha here, I work in a small system and had a bad call a few months ago, young kid hung himself and I was second one on scene behind PD. I posted in my facebook "Not the way I wanted to start my shift.....nothing we could do tonight." Or something like that, I was asked to take it down and I pushed the policy. For one I post my private posts to my privately hidden pages. The only way my supervisors can see it is by spying through other employees. Second I felt that I was just expressing how I felt that night and I was not telling anyone who didn't have a scanner anything they didn't know. Anyone in scanner land heard me say..."<als response unit #> on scene with PD." then a couple minutes later "responding squad, cancel your run, dispatch contact the coroner for me please". Eventually I won, what did I win? I succeeded in pissing off my director royally and not having to get a write up for a first occurrence HIPPA violation.

 

[HotelCo]

I agree with Sasha here, I work in a small system and had a bad call a few months ago, young kid hung himself and I was second one on scene behind PD. I posted in my facebook "Not the way I wanted to start my shift.....nothing we could do tonight." Or something like that, I was asked to take it down and I pushed the policy. For one I post my private posts to my privately hidden pages. The only way my supervisors can see it is by spying through other employees. Second I felt that I was just expressing how I felt that night and I was not telling anyone who didn't have a scanner anything they didn't know. Anyone in scanner land heard me say..."<als response unit #> on scene with PD." then a couple minutes later "responding squad, cancel your run, dispatch contact the coroner for me please". Eventually I won, what did I win? I succeeded in pissing off my director royally and not having to get a write up for a first occurrence HIPPA violation.

I put all of my coworkers (except the few I hang out with outside of work) into a work category. The default for my posts is to hide them from that category. Lol

 

[TransportJockey]

MY service doesn't have one. Although I got myself written up a little while back because some douche on my facebook friends list emailed my chief after a non-specific rant I did. No PHI in it at all, just a random rant. So now I narrowed down the list of friends. I have no coworkers on my FB list, and my profile is set so to see anything except certain photos you have to be on my friends list.

 

[nakenyon]

My volunteer company's "formal" policy is that there is to be no mention of the company or our affiliation with the company, be it on FB, Twitter, forums, blogs, etc.

Also there can be no pictures of us in/on/near the ambulance or engines -- or pictures of us in our gear.

While this is the formal policy handed down from the Board of Directors, it is rarely enforced. On occasion, someone will post a status or inappropriate photo and they will be asked to take it down and that's generally where it ends unless the person makes a habit of it.

 

[rwik123]

My volunteer company's "formal" policy is that there is to be no mention of the company or our affiliation with the company, be it on FB, Twitter, forums, blogs, etc.

Also there can be no pictures of us in/on/near the ambulance or engines -- or pictures of us in our gear.

While this is the formal policy handed down from the Board of Directors, it is rarely enforced. On occasion, someone will post a status or inappropriate photo and they will be asked to take it down and that's generally where it ends unless the person makes a habit of it.

Really? So you couldn't have a profile picture of you in your uniform? Seems a tad excessive.

 

[RuralMedik]

Social Networking

My career service does not have one, per se'. I feel they should definitely have one in place. As of now, if you don't violate HIPPA and don't embarrass the agency, then you're fine. I'm so afraid they will regret this in the future.


On the other hand, I wrote the social network policy for my volunteer fire/rescue department. In a nutshell...

1. Do not post HIPPA sensitive information.
2. Do not appear in dept identifiable uniform of any type on the site.
3. Do not post pictures of yourself in dept apparatus if it is identifiable.
4. Be appropriately vague when saying where you volunteer, ie: "Local Fire Department".
5. Etc and so forth.

Our department has not been embarrassed publicly by anything a member has posted on any social networking site, and we decided to be proactive about it, rather than close the barn door after the animals have escaped.

I see Facebook posts from members saying "Pulling a 24 at the FD". I find nothing wrong with this. Some folks don't even want THAT allowed, which I feel may be a little overboard.

Better safe than sorry, in my opinion.

 

[emt seeking first job]

There is no formal policy at my volunteer service.

One officer confronted one person about some photos and sat them down and had them take down certain ones. Other than that, no issues I know of.

Personally I am not on any of the social networks whatsover. I contact people through the email address which I have had since 1998.

I realize for some people those venues are beneficial but for me time at the base and on the street is what will advance my EMS career.

If I want someone to see a photo I either show it to them in person or scan it and send it as an attachment in an email.

 

[nakenyon]

Really? So you couldn't have a profile picture of you in your uniform? Seems a tad excessive.

That would be correct and I very much agree with you. Kinda feel like kindergarten. One person did something bad so everyone gets punished.

 

[Emma]

This sort of how things have always been for teachers. The community is watching and judging. Now it's all on the internet and it's not just "Well, I saw...", it's "I took a screen cap".

It's just easier to nail down whatever it is that's deemed inappropriate.

I've taught in districts that would fire you if a parent saw you getting a little drunk at the bar with your friends on a Saturday night and complained. Never mind that this is a perfectly acceptable thing for adults above 21 to do on Saturday night. It's viewed by that district as something that's not acceptable for teachers to do in public. We get judged all the time for what we do in public.

Now, people are getting fired for posting about their students on FB. Even pretty tame stuff like " Today was a great day with 5th pd! They learned so much!". There was an article recently about a teacher was fired for ranting about how the kids are stupid and lazy. If she's too dumb to know you can't put that sort of thing out there, she's too dumb to be employed.

A lot of districts completely ban any kind of posting on the internet about anything to do with school. The council you to not even have facebook. The last place I worked could have fired me for posting on here to get advice about first aid classes. They're all just terrified of someone screwing up and parents suing.

It's interesting that other professions are going this way, it sounds like.

 

[emt seeking first job]

Certain positions have certain rules written and unwritten.

If you want no restrictions, become an actor or musician.....

Otherwise, it is what it is.

 

[usalsfyre]

Certain positions have certain rules written and unwritten.

If you want no restrictions, become an actor or musician.....

Otherwise, it is what it is.

Bull$hit. What I do, on my own time that doesn't involve organization I'm employed by is MY business alone as long as it's legal. I hate attitudes like this, it simply allows employers to insert themselves even deeper in my private life.

 

[emt seeking first job]

Bull$hit. What I do, on my own time that doesn't involve organization I'm employed by is MY business alone as long as it's legal. I hate attitudes like this, it simply allows employers to insert themselves even deeper in my private life.

As I said, it is what it is.

Right, wrong or indifferent.

Remember the NYPD officer that posed in Playboy? It was all done in a way that was "legal" and did not violate any rules of the department. However, to make the long story short she soon was ex-NYPD and the women officer's association was not only not helping her, they were lobbying against her because iot subjected their memebers to trash talk on the street.

Brother, I am not stopping you from doing what you feel is OK. I just posted an observation.

Ever hear the expression "don;t kill the messenger" ? :blink::unsure::blink::unsure:B)B)B)B)B)

 

[Emma]

Bull$hit. What I do, on my own time that doesn't involve organization I'm employed by is MY business alone as long as it's legal. I hate attitudes like this, it simply allows employers to insert themselves even deeper in my private life.

See how far it gets you, then. I think it's ridiculous also, but it's been proven in court over and over (at least for teachers) that employers can do this. I can dig up the links if you like.

 

[TransportJockey]

See how far it gets you, then. I think it's ridiculous also, but it's been proven in court over and over (at least for teachers) that employers can do this. I can dig up the links if you like.

Actually with the recent court case against AMR, companies are finally starting to realize what people do on their own time is their business not the company's

 

[Emma]

Actually with the recent court case against AMR, companies are finally starting to realize what people do on their own time is their business not the company's

I really hope so.

It's not a news article yet (I'm sure it will be), but there's someone from my district who just got fired because they talked about their job on FB, didn't lock it down, a parent saw and complained, district policy says this is grounds for having your contract non renewed (fired).


I looked in google real quick about this, and here's the second link that came up:
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-504083_162-20030932-504083.html

That's encouraging.

 

[usalsfyre]

As I said, it is what it is.

Right, wrong or indifferent.

Remember the NYPD officer that posed in Playboy? It was all done in a way that was "legal" and did not violate any rules of the department. However, to make the long story short she soon was ex-NYPD and the women officer's association was not only not helping her, they were lobbying against her because iot subjected their memebers to trash talk on the street.

Brother, I am not stopping you from doing what you feel is OK. I just posted an observation.

Ever hear the expression "don;t kill the messenger" ? :blink::unsure::blink::unsure:B)B)B)B)B)

Sorry, your right. This just issue just strikes a nerve with me. Darn libertarian views...

 

[emt seeking first job]

Sorry, your right. This just issue just strikes a nerve with me. Darn libertarian views...

no worries, brother, be safe out there

 

[DarkStarr]

no patient identifiers and dont be stupid.