Public OR Private & Accountability

As professionals I don’t believe that we are obligated to speak in public, referencing to the greater public beyond our day to day interactions with for example patients and collogues. We make personal choices to engage in public discourse through conferences, emails, social media networks and the like. We are all required to represent our professions in accordance to the practice standards set out by our licensing bodies and organizations we chose to practice in meeting standards of practice and professional accountability-- however, how public we chose to be is up to the individual.

The popularization of social media has in essence given `public’ presence and participation a new purpose, definition and reach. If one choses to participate in social media and link to their profession or professional organization within that space, they are also required to meet the standards of practice and professional accountability for those in that space. If they choose to maintain a `private’ presence there is still obligation to maintain standards however opinions and discussion can have, perhaps more of an open boundary. I would suggest that, really, almost everything is public now-- if it is recorded, put into print or can be reproduced in any way.

#MHST601 @MirandaLambRN