Our reading this week explored various types of emails and memos: progress reports, meeting minutes, incident reports, directives, general information, and responses to inquiries.
Your task for this week is to compose an email or memo (you can choose which) that is based on the scenario below.
You’ve been hired as an Assistant Director of Nursing at a long-term care facility that recently opened. The Director has discovered that some nurses and other staff members have been posting videos and selfies on social media, sometimes with patients visible. In a TikTok video, a portion of a patient’s chart can be made out in the background, raising privacy concerns and the risk of HIPAA violations. In a Twitter post, a staff member complained about a patient in a potentially disrespectful way. On Facebook, an employee shared erroneous information about the facility’s holiday hours.
Your manager asks you to send a memo to the facility staff detailing a new social media and smartphone use policy to go into effect immediately. Employees should no longer use personal phones while working, except while on breaks. No photos or videos of the facility or patients should be posted on personal social media accounts, and all information or news about the facility should be approved by the Assistant Director before being posted.
Compose your email or memo in a document, adding the necessary headings and features of the format you’ve chosen. Use our text as a reference to decide what kind of email or memo to write, and to make sure your email or memo looks and sounds professional. Your email or memo should be no less than 200 words and no more than 300 words. Feel free to make up any necessary information or details as needed as you write.
Last, on a new page, write a 1-2 paragraph reflection on your email/memo addressing the following:
Which type of email/memo did you decide to compose for this scenario? Why?
What did you find challenging about writing your email/memo? Explain.
