A while ago on StudentMidwife.NET, I wrote about the midwives who were disciplined for complaining about colleagues in public on facebook and I advised all members to be mindful of what they say on forums where such conduct is tolerated. As you are aware we have very strict rules about such conduct here. This message will not change how the site runs, it will still be intimate, friendly and you will still be encouraged to talk about your experiences, thoughts and feelings. This does not really affect our site but that of other sites you may be members of.

Having been researching such 'conduct' matters further I would strongly advise you all to consider not only what you say and how you conduct yourself on public forums but also what kind of photos you have - photos of you and your friends on a night out misbehaving - the kind of pictures that you'd take and share with close friends but try and think of the appropriatness of these images.

I probably sound like I am getting all big brother on you and you will of course make up your own minds, but I would strongly advise you to consider your 'public image' as a midwife. Employers, colleagues, clients etc may all have access to your 'private life' via such unmoderated forums. Keep everything private, double check settings and think about the potential consequences before you post pictures, comments etc.

I would also invite anyone who has their full name as a user name on any websites, including both of mine, to contact the site owners and ask to change your name to a user name that will not identify you - Rob is highly recommending that you do not use either firstname, surname or any derivitive of either in any part of your username. I will start by changing mine. Please can you PM Rob with your new choice of unidentifiable user name. You will then need to log in as your new user name from then on, your password will remain the same. It may take a shortwhile to action all requests so please do bare with us and if you find that you cannot login then it probabally means your new username has kicked in.

We take our responsibilites here very seriously and strive to present a professional yet relaxed and friendly face of midwifery. We have strict rules that we enforce and we would encourage you all to re-think your public persona elsewhere, who may have access to your photos, comments etc. From my previous career I know that certain communications are admissable evidence in court, including emails and texts and now its seems what one contributes to a forum is also admissable - well at least in a disciplinary setting regarding conduct. The NMC conduct guidelines remind us to be mindful of our conduct away from work and this seems all the more pertinent now. The exact wording of the new NMC Code of Conduct effective 1st May 2008 is 'You must uphold the reputation of your profession at all times'. The 2004 Code of Conduct is now out of date.

If you would like to read my previous post on the matter you can locate it here http://www.studentmidwife.net/blogs/...ls-beware.html you will need to join www.StudentMidwife.NET to view this and the guidance document.

I urge you all to look through your photo albums here and on other forums. We do of course check albums regularly. A staff team will be checking all albums over the next few days to help you filter whats a good idea to display and what is not.


Rob is working on a setting that makes your photos and avatars private to members only, Im sure you appreciate we can only go so far with how much we can help you be annonymous, plus the real message here is to be mindful of your conduct and take reasonable steps to annoymise yourself and your place of work. On this site we do that for you, our team of moderators are looking out for such identifying factors all the time and we work hard to protect you, the site and our collective professional reputations.

Your MidwiferyWorld photo albums can be set to friends only and that really does mean only the friends on your friends list! You may not be aware but facebook privacy settings are not as private as you think. An example on facebook is you may think only your friends can see your photos - but if a friend makes a comment on one of your photos, then this photo and its comment will be shown to your mutual friends and even people you do not know - people on your friends friends list - this friends friend will be able to press 'next' and flick through the rest of your album. That friend of a friend may be your your ward manager, matron or a client you have cared for. If the photo is of you and your friends drunk as skunks, flashing your knickers - then thats probably not the best way to present yourself to your professional peers.

I hope this message is recieved in the spirit that it is intended, we want to work along side bodies such as the NMC to reach as many midwives as we can to protect you and to protect the public image of midwifery. If you are not a midwife or a student midwife then please make any student midwives and midwives you know aware of this matter. Thankyou.

Kind regards

J

Please see the guidance document here Guideline for Participation and Conduct Online :: Get your copy now

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Founder of MidwiferyWorld

J and R, you have been very kind to spend time doing this. It will be very useful for those members who are not particularly 'savvy' with the internet and all the information sharing that goes on.

Just another example of supporting each other. Thank you.

KS x

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Kentish Spitfire
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"It's better to be thought a fool - rather than proved a fool!"

Thanks for your kind words KS

We felt it was incredibly important to support our colleagues as the midwives in the bebo case were most likley totally unaware who may have been reading their concerns. I interpret the case that they wanted to offload out of work and thought they were just talking to onenaother about their concerns, however as you say its a minefield and if people dont know how to set their settings - and tbh FB security settings are complicated and I count myself as v net savvy however I didnt set mine properly first time - people will fall foul to the facebook dare I say 'traps' and end up in alot of trouble.

Im not suggetesing FB is attempting to get people in trouble but that the way they are structured means its incredibly complicated to protect yourself fully if you dont have your own IT Consultant at home like people like me have! As it is it was me who first identified the problem with FB in this house as R doesnt use it, infact FB drives him nuts lol I use it to reach students and midwives but when I did a routine check of my settings (yes Im a cautious legal geek!) I realised my profile and activities were not properly protected. I dont have anythng remotely 'dodgy' on there as my presence is purley professional however all my friends have FB accounts and speak freely as they feel they are only talking to their select group - whereas in reality they are talking to a whole lot of people and exposing their personal pictures and private life to alot of people they do not know.

I felt it was my 'duty to try and do something to help others to not fall foul of the settings issue and subsequent problems that may arise. I sent out 1800 emails about it yesterday and will be contacting all members here directly via PM to ensure they are aware and protected.

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Founder of MidwiferyWorld