The document provides guidance on social media use for nursing leaders and staff at Mayo Clinic. It outlines the Mayo Clinic Social Media Network resource and 10 social media guidelines for employees. It then describes scenarios for small group discussion around appropriately responding to social media requests from patients and properly using social media as a nurse. The document concludes with next steps for nursing staff, including ways to have conversations about social media use and share Mayo Clinic resources.

1. ©2016 MFMER | 3507910-
Social Media Training
for Dept. of Nursing Leaders

2. Do you have a social media account on…
Facebook?
Twitter?
Instagram?
LinkedIn?

3. Mayo Clinic Social Media Network
• What is the Social Media Network? A useful resource for
social media tools and guidance.
• Where can you find it?
• https://socialmedia.mayoclinic.org/nursing
• Shortcut on the Enterprise Department of Nursing
homepage (Mayo staff only)

4. 4
Social Media Guidelines for Mayo Employees

5. Mayo Clinic Social Media Guidelines
1. All Mayo policies apply
2. Speak for yourself
3. Be professional
4. Be transparent
5. Practice mutual respect
6. Get your work done
7. Don’t “friend” patients
8. Don’t “friend” direct reports
9. Don’t endorse for Mayo
10. No Mayo logo or name

6. 6
Nursing Scenarios

7. What’s next: Small group activity
• Participate with four or more people.
• Review your scenario and discuss the appropriate
response.
• Identify someone to share your table’s learnings
• Report out briefly.

8. Group Debrief
Report in two minutes or fewer:
• What did your group decide and why?

9. Scenario 1
A post-surgical patient and his wife are participating in
a teach-back session for complex twice daily dressing
changes they will perform at home.
They have asked the RN if they can use their phone to
take a video of her performing the dressing change for
their future viewing at home.
How do you respond and why?

10. Scenario 1 – Key Learnings
Guideline 1: All Mayo Clinic policies apply on
social media.
• With your consent, patients/families can take
photographs or video for personal use.
• Make it clear that teach-back videos are for a patient
and caregiver’s personal use, not for public posting.

11. Scenario 2
As an RN, you have developed a strong professional
relationship with a transplant patient and her family.
They are interested in sharing with you their new life
post-transplant and ask if they can “friend” you on
Facebook.
How do you respond and why?

12. Scenario 2 – Key Learnings
Guideline 7: Don’t “friend” patients.
• You should tactfully decline the request.
• Exception: if an in-person friendship pre-dates the
treatment relationship.

13. Scenario 3
You’re in the middle of caring for a patient when a
family member/caretaker asks to take a photo or video.
You’re not comfortable since you don’t know how it will
be used.
How do you respond?

14. Scenario 3 – Key Learnings
Guideline 1: All Mayo Clinic policies apply on
social media.
• If the patient and staff member(s) consent, pictures
and/or video may be taken.
• If you are uncomfortable, you may decline to be in
the picture and/or video.

15. Scenario 4
You’ve swiped out for your lunch break. Before
heading to the employee cafeteria, you sit down at the
front desk and use the desktop computer to go online
and see what your friends have posted on Facebook
and Instagram.
Is this OK, since you’re on break?

16. Scenario 4 – Key Learnings
Guideline 6: Get your work done.
• Wait until you are no longer in a patient area (and
make sure you’re off the clock).
• Use your personal mobile device, rather than a
desktop computer.

17. Scenario 5
Over lunch, a colleague tells you about a wonderful
experience caring for a cancer patient who had a
successful proton beam treatment a few months ago. You
feel inspired by the patient’s story and want to share it on
Facebook, but know that this would be a privacy violation.
A few days later, you see a story about the patient on
Mayo’s Facebook page. Can you share the story now?
Would it be any different if you see the patient’s story on TV
or in the newspaper instead?

18. Scenario 5 – Key Learnings
Guideline 1: All Mayo Clinic policies apply on
social media.
• Don’t create your own post about patients or refer to
them on social media.
• Share news and stories Mayo Clinic posts to its
official social media accounts.

19. Scenario 6
A nurse is caring for a patient with leukemia. The
patient is doing very well and will be discharged soon.
With the patient’s permission the nurse posts a picture
of the patient along with several of the nurses caring
for him on her unit’s private Facebook group. A friend
of one of the staff members who knew the patient, saw
the post and questioned her about the patient.
Was this an appropriate post? Why or why not?

20. Scenario 6 – Key Learnings
Guideline 1: All Mayo Clinic policies apply on
social media.
• Avoid posting patient information or photos that
doesn’t originate from an official Mayo Clinic social
media account.

21. Scenario 7
A nurse posts on Facebook how stressful her day is at
work. She doesn’t use patient names but makes
disparaging comments about her patients and states
she can’t wait until the end of the shift so she can hit
the bars with her friends.
Is this an appropriate post, considering it’s her private
Facebook account and she doesn’t mention patients
by name?

22. Scenario 7 – Key Learnings
Guideline 3: Be professional
• Never use social media in a negative or
unprofessional manner.

23. Scenario 8
A nurse posts on Twitter about an upcoming job fair at
Mayo Clinic. He shares information about the event as
well as information about his work area and how much
he has learned since starting at Mayo as a new
graduate. He encourages his friends and others to
attend the job fair and learn more about his work area
as well as others.
Is this an appropriate post? Why or why not?

24. Scenario 8 – Key Learning
Guideline 4: Be transparent
• Professional (and much encouraged way) to share
information

25. 25
Next Steps

26. 26
What do you do next? The 3 S’s of Social Media!
• Open a conversation in your work area about social media.
• Identify a social media super-user from your work area.
• Share social media resources with your staff.
Let us know how else we can support you.

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5 Ways Nursing Staff Can Use Social Media
1. Follow Mayo Clinic on Facebook and Twitter.
2. Share Mayo Clinic news
3. Have a patient story idea to share? Contact Public Affairs.
4. Post questions about social media on the Nursing page of
the Mayo Clinic Social Media Network.
5. Want to learn more? Sign up for the Mayo Clinic Social
Media Basics for Healthcare certification.

28. 28
Q&A

29. Start at socialmedia.mayoclinic.org/nursing