PRE-CON – Play Stupid Games – Win Stupid Prizes. Realizing Your Behavior On & Off Duty May Come With CONSEQUENCES!
With all the recent comments on social media first responders must realize that their On & Off Duty behavior could come with consequences including reprimand, suspension, termination and even arrest. This session will help Prehospital Care Practitioners better understand the consequences of their actions!
Today everyone is in touch with each other by way of Facebook, Email, Instagram, Tic Tok, Linkedin, Snapchat, WhatsApp, You Tube and other forms of social media. These social media tools help users stay in touch with family, friends and loved ones, but they are often missed-used to spread gossip and hate!
There’s nothing wrong with sharing photos on social media with others. It is a good way to stay connected with old college classmates, military buddies, co-workers and people who you enjoy communicating with. But when you share confidential photos as a first responder you can be in trouble.
EMS has changed a lot in just 50 plus years. It is still a very stressful profession and more dangerous than ever. EMS nationwide is attracting a younger workforce who is into social media. While most EMS Services have policies and procedures, ethical rules and comply with HIPPA Laws some EMT’s / Paramedics still violate the policy & rules by posting confidential information about patients and calls they responded to.
“So, you decide to go out and drink a few beers the night before you’re scheduled to work”!
This session is designed to show EMS Practitioners how going out the night before your shift, drinking a few beers and you posted a photo of yourself drinking just a few hours before your shift. Two hours into your shift you get involved in a wreck… A good attorney will probably try to use that photo against you in court. At the time you weren’t thinking about what could happen. Another example if you post a photo or make comments about a patient you treated, this could lead to a HIPPA violation and even arrest. In some incidents we’ve seen EMT’s / Paramedics get terminated for posting photos and comments on social media.
During this session we will use Case Studies to show “How Your Off-Duty Behavior Could Impact You While On-Duty”.
Objectives:
- Understand the rules of engagement of social media.
- Review where to find the HIPPA CFR Part 160 – 164.
- Discuss Social Media Policy & Procedures.
- Discuss the Legal Aspect of Social Media Violations.
- Understand what happened in 3 Case Studies.