title: Duty of confidence and the use  of social networking sites.
abstract: Social networking sites are a popular form of online communication used by an estimated 350000 registered nurses. The use of such sites by nurses must be done with caution because their duty of confidence extends to their online presence and inappropriate remarks or pictures posted online can call their fitness to practise into question. This article reviews the scope of a nurse's duty of confidence and discusses the requirements for the acceptable use of social networks by health professionals.
authors.affiliation: College of Human and Health Sciences, Swansea University.
authors.forename: Richard
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Griffith
mesh_terms: D003219:Confidentiality; D006801:Humans; D060756:Social Networking; D006113:United Kingdom