Internet Craze 'Lying Down Game' Gets 7 Doctors, Nurses Suspended in Emergency Ward

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,548882,00.html
Internet Craze 'Lying Down Game' Gets 7 Doctors, Nurses Suspended in Emergency Ward
Thursday, September 10, 2009

I found this article because of it's reference to facebook. Facebook does seem to be all the rage at my place of employment also, and in this article seven doctors and nurses who work in an emergency department were participating in a facebook game called the Lying Down Game. They took pictures of themselves while on the job lying on gurneys, ward floors and the building’s helipad, then posted the pictures to facebook. When management found out about the pictures on facebook they considered this a breach in health, safety and infection control regulations and the participating staff may lose their jobs.


I work in a hospital, and of course I don't mean we are using it at work, or playing on it at work, because even if we wanted to, the computers do not allow access to such entertainment sites. What I mean about the rage at work is that one person got hooked on it, then she encouraged another to get on it and so forth until all but two of us are now like facebook trekies. On breaks or at lunch the biggest topic is who has what friends and who they hid and who they won't allow to be friends or how they are communicating with their husbands old girlfriend in college. The reason most people hide friends is because they post things like "Well I'm going to the store now" or they send so many photos it bogs things down. I really think it's all kind of silly, so I have not signed up but I know to others they can't get enough of it. However it does seem to get an enormous amount of information flowing freely and keeps every one in the loop "in the know".

I think this story's message for those reading it is that you have to think about your actions and the consequences. Being a professional is not compromised by doing silly things that helps keep moral going in an otherwise very physically and mentally taxing job. It's just best kept in the confines of the milieu, and not spread out there in the worldwide web. Also the staff are representatives of the hospital and when you post things which obviously included the name "Secret Swindon Emergency Department Group" they just put the hospital in jeopardy of facing public scrutiny and legal and regulatory infractions.


The article stated that "the person who started it is really worried." I think they should be because a lot of people are doing things and posting it to the web and causing themselves some totally preventable trouble. While I know lying on contaminated surfaces with your scrubs on and then perhaps taking care of your next patient without changing your clothes is indeed an obvious infection risk for the patient, I think the worst thing is; one they are professionals and did not think twice about that fact, and two that they were stupid enough to post it to a public place for attention like their boss would never see it?