Date of Award

3-12-2020

Publication Type

Master Thesis

Degree Name

M.Sc.N.

Department

Nursing

Keywords

E-professionalism, Nursing student, Social media

Supervisor

Laurie Freeman

Rights

info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess

Abstract

Nursing students have been charged criminally or expelled from undergraduate programs for inappropriate social media use. The literature has heavily criticized nursing students for unprofessional use of social media and a lack E-professionalism. The concept of E-professionalism within healthcare is relatively new as more providers use social media, thus it has quickly become an ethical and specialized challenge for nursing. The purpose of this research was to explore E-Professionalism among undergraduate nursing students at a midsize South Western Ontario university. A sample of 136 nursing students participated in this study. Subjects could identify blatant examples of appropriate and inappropriate of social media use but struggled with less obvious violations. Nursing students also lacked the ability to identify regulatory bodies or universities stances on E-professionalism, suggesting that students are learning about E-professionalism outside the academic settings, which may become troublesome when trying to adhere to professional regulations. Changes in current nursing educational practices, surrounding E-professionalism, are suggested and may ultimately contribute to decreased issues with inappropriate social media use for future Registered Nurses.

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