Healthcare employees and anyone who has been a mature patient in recent years have been properly informed of the Health Insurance Privacy and Portability Act ( HIPPA), but even more people are more intimately informed. familiar with the social networking site Facebook. Before researching the legal and ethical boundaries of patient confidentiality in nursing schools, many of us thought little about the HIPPA concept and how it applies to each of us as individuals . We can announce to the world on Facebook that I have a lump, please go get a mammogram! We can complain for hours about our children's medical problems. We make announcements and call for prayer for our sick spouses and parents. We share things with our friends and family that we shouldn't share. It's not about Facebook; its essence is to respect the privacy of others and refuse to participate in activities that may disclose private medical information about anyone. Crossing that line, clearly expressing your intention to be part of the health care industry, changes your responsibility to identify information about someone other than yourself, and that information dies with you or there may be serious consequences. Some of the stories are easy to research. on the Internet are seemingly harmless, devoid of any intent – ​​probably just a momentary lapse in judgment or simple ignorance. A nursing student goes to a nursing blog and asks: My patient died during clinicals today. Any advice on how I handle this emotionally? Unless the identification of this nursing student's blog is known to fellow students or faculty, and no one can trace the patient's identity and harm this person or their family in any way, this would be innocent advice, see...... middle of paper ......t 8). When Facebook goes to the hospital, patients can suffer. Los Angeles Times. Retrieved from http://articles.latimes.com/2010/aug/08/local/la-me-facebook-20100809Larson, K. and Elliot, R. (2010). The emotional impact of professional misconduct. Nephrology Nursing Journal, 37(2), 153-156.Painter, LM and Dudjak, LA (2010). Actions, behaviors, and characteristics of registered nurses involved in compensable injuries. Journal of Nursing Administration, 40(12), 534-539. http://dx.doi.org/10.1097/NNA.0b013e3181fc19eb Pugh, D. (2009). The Phoenix Process: A Substantive Theory of Professional Conduct Allegations. Journal of Advanced Nursing, 65(10), 2027-2037. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2648.2009.05038.xVirginia Board of Nursing. (2012). Tips on using social media. In (Guidance Paper 90-48). Retrieved from www.dhp.virginia.gov/nursing/guidelines/90-48_SocialMedia.doc