VUMC's social media policy helps protect faculty, staff online

Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC) recognizes the value of social media platforms as a way to engage and communicate; however, their use carries risk.

As a result, it is important for Medical Center employees to remember that if identifying on social media as a member of the Medical Center’s workforce, there are rules governing these activities through VUMC’s Social Media Policy, and that posts or information shared may carry more weight or be misunderstood by the public as a statement from the Medical Center and not as a personal communication.

Here are some things to remember to use social media in a policy-compliant manner:

• Review VUMC’s social media policy.
• Make clear that you are not speaking for VUMC by adding “tweets are my own” for Twitter and a similar disclaimer for all other social media platforms.
• Don’t forget that all other policies, such as those relating to HIPAA, apply on social media, and that individuals should take responsibility to represent their views as their own, not those of the Medical Center.
• The policy also provides guidelines for behavior on social networking sites that are behind VUMC ID (VUnetID) authentication. Public social media platforms are not used for INTERNAL communications purposes.

If an individual does not identify themselves as a VUMC employee on their personal social media accounts, the social media policy is not applicable. Remember, however, that other policies and laws such as HIPAA do apply on social media just as in any other form of communication, even if an individual isn’t identified as a VUMC employee.

Extra care must be taken when sharing workplace selfies or photos of facilities, lines or crowds to make sure they do not contain HIPAA-protected content such as identifying patients who have not consented to be photographed.   

You can find the social media policy on Policy Tech.