First few Article Sentences
Accordingly to a report by the LA Times, last year a patient arrived at the emergency room at St. Mary Medical Center in Los Angeles with gruesome wounds. Much to the later chagrin of the hospital, instead of focusing their efforts on treating him, nurses and other hospital staff took photos of the dying man with camera equipped phones and circulated these photos via Facebook and text messages.
Social media, generally defined as the variety of internet-based technology tools that enable people to communicate, creates concerns for all employers and special concerns for hospitals, which by design, regularly handle confidential medical information. The speed and ease with which employee and patient information can be shared renders it imperative that hospitals address social media concerns and expectations with their employees.