Nursing and midwifery regulator misconduct hearings in the United Kingdom involving social media: Content analysis and proposed interventions for prevention

Background

Social media is used widely across the international nursing community for professional purposes. Although the need for such social media use is important, reports of serious misconduct by nurses on social media platforms persist.

Purpose

To examine the context and circumstances of misconduct hearings by the United Kingdom's (UK) professional regulator of nurses and midwives involving social media and to explain the factors that lead to this misconduct.

Methods

This study used a sequential, multiple method content analysis of publicly available UK Nursing and Midwifery Council hearing documents.

Results

Ninety-nine hearing documents were included. Findings revealed two overarching categories of misconduct involving social media: Category A, illegal activity and sexual misconduct, and Category B, unprofessional and unethical behavior. There are several contributory factors that lead to misconduct involving social media platforms, including people's traits (“bad apples”), organizations' cultures (“bad barrels”), and the wider social context and influences (“the larder”).

Conclusion

Having identified contributory factors, this study recommends organizational/regulatory interventions that can help prevent misconduct. Key stakeholders such as employers and education providers may wish to consider interventions that may prevent such cases, such as implementing values-based recruitment or creating an organizational culture that encourages the recognition and raising of concerns.