Privacy Policy

Sigma Theta Tau International (STTI), The Virginia Henderson International Nursing Library (VHL) and Nursing Knowledge International (NKI) value the relationship we have with our members, customers and visitors. We have created this privacy statement in order to demonstrate our respect for your privacy. The following discloses our information gathering and dissemination practices on the honor society's family of web sites.

We suggest that you practice reasonable discretion with any site when providing personal information. Note also that whenever you post personal information in publicly accessible places, such as chat rooms or message boards, this information becomes available to anyone with access to the Internet. Therefore, we recommend that you refrain from posting any information you do not want seen on public areas of the web sites. Feel free to contact us if you have any questions regarding our policies.

What information is collected on STTI, VHL or NKI?

At different times, we may request the following information from our members, customers or visitors. HOWEVER, BE INFORMED THAT WE DO NOT COLLECT OR STORE CREDIT CARD ACCOUNT NUMBERS.

First, we use a feature of your browser called a cookie to assign identification to your computer. The unique user ID contained within your cookie automatically identifies your computer - but not you - to our servers every time you visit our site. This allows us to "remember" information about your preferences and passwords and allows you to move within our Web Site without reintroducing yourself. Cookies also allows our third party web analytics service to measure the number of page views on our site. Cookies by themselves cannot be used to find out the identity of any user, but may be correlated with identity information in our log files. The help portion of the toolbar on most browsers will tell you how to prevent your browser from accepting new cookies, how to have the browser notify you when you receive a new cookie, or how to disable cookies altogether. However, turning off the cookies feature using your browser's preference options may limit your ability to utilize many of our site features.

Second, we keep track of your IP address (the address the Internet uses to identify your computer) to help diagnose problems with our server and to administer our Web site. Your IP address is also used to gather broad demographic information about you, such as your location and your Internet service provider. Nursing Knowledge International may also collect aggregate information on how our users are utilizing the site. This might include information regarding traffic patterns through the site and search queries.

Third, we log browser types, access times, URLs from which visitors came to our site and URLs viewed by visitors while on our site. Except as otherwise stated in this privacy policy, we do not provide this information to third parties, except in aggregate form.

Fourth, at specific times we may ask you to provide us with personal information in order for you to register for a service. This information may include but is not limited to your name and email address. You may always choose not to provide us with this information; however, this may limit our ability to provide you with a specific service or to deliver personalized content.

Fifth, if you choose to register for any paid service or make purchases on our site, you will be requested to provide credit card information. Although we cannot guarantee complete security, we will use commercially reasonable efforts to protect all e-commerce transactions through the use of encryption and Thawte Secure Server Certificate and Authorize.net Payment Solutions. In order to complete a transaction, payment information may be transferred through one of our partners who processes such information.

What organization is collecting the information?

STTI, NKI, and/or VHL may request the information. However, it may be shared with select partners to deliver additional services you have requested. The areas of our sites in which partners are collecting information may be co-branded with our partners' logos.

Some of our content partners, as well as advertisers who display ads on our site, may use cookies. We do not control their use of cookies or have access to the information contained in or related to those cookies. Therefore, if you leave our site through a hyperlink, please be advised that we are no longer in control of the content you are exposed to.

What does STTI, NKI or VHL do with the data it collects?

Whenever data is collected it is intended to tailor or improve the experience of visitors to our family of web sites. From the data collected we can customize content and advertising based on the user's preferences. We analyze what our users prefer in order to improve our services and product offerings.

We use IP addresses to help diagnose problems with our server and to administer our Web sites. IP addresses may be disclosed to a third party if we believe in good faith that the law or legal process requires it, or to protect the rights or property of STTI, NKI or VHL or others.

When you register for unique services on our sites - such as to create an email account, we collect additional information from you in order to provide you with those specific services and to personalize your experience on the site. We may use such information to target our offerings or offerings of third parties that may be of interest to you and/or to analyze aggregate user data in order to improve our services.

On occasion we may e-mail bulletins to provide you with information that we think you will find useful, including information about new products and services. We might also contact you to see if you are interested in participating in market research or to respond to customer-service questions submitted or to verify your account information if you submit a password request.

With whom does STTI, NKI or VHL share data?

With your permission, we may disclose your personal information to our business partners in order to provide you with the services you have requested. We do not have control over and are not responsible for the data collection and use practices of our business partners.

We also may disclose your personal information to a third party if we believe in good faith that the law or legal process requires it, to protect the rights or property of STTI, NKI or VHL, or as otherwise described in this privacy policy.

We may share aggregate demographic information with our advertisers.

What choices are available regarding collection, use and distribution of the information?

As previously noted, you may always choose to not provide us with any of the information we request; however, this may limit our ability to provide you with a specific service or limit our ability to offer personalized content. For example, our e-mail registration form requests your contact information, demographic information (such as your age and gender) as well as information regarding your interests.

How can you update or correct your information?

Users of our web sites can review and modify their account or profile information on the site or alternatively by sending an email to us..

How can you delete your information or deactivate your registration?

You may deactivate your registration at any time.

Nursing Knowledge International currently does not have a method for completely deleting user information from our database. However, deleting the cookie stored on your computer will cause you to be perceived as a new user with no known user data. You may also change a setting in your browser, instructing it not to accept cookies, but this could prevent you from receiving some Nursing Knowledge International services.

As a part of ongoing site maintenance, some information may be automatically deleted from our site after a certain period of time.

What procedures have been designed to protect the loss, misuse or alteration of information under STTI, NKI or VHL's control?

Except as otherwise stated in this privacy policy, we have taken measures intended to restrict access to information that is not publicly available through its sites, to the user who initially entered the information or to authorized personnel at Nursing Knowledge International ,or its partners, and only after a password has been entered.

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What about registration for Continuing Education Courses?

We may host continuing education courses for our registered users online. Enrollment for such courses is completely optional and at your discretion. When you register for continuing education courses you will be required to provide billing information exactly as it appears on your credit card statement so that we can process your order including your name, address, telephone number, credit card number and expiration date. The information you provide is used solely for the purpose of consummating your purchase and your credit card information will not be stored. We may record information about registration for continuing education courses to determine which courses appeal most to members of our group. This statistical information may help us to improve our product offerings.

Discussion Board use

We may offer a discussion board that permits posting opportunities for our registered users. Please see our Terms of Service before using the bulletin board and make sure to post only information that you are comfortable sharing.

Correspondence requirements

You will be required to provide your e-mail address when you register for specific forms of communication such as an e-mail newsletter. The newsletter provides nurses with a variety of information on topics we believe would be of interest to you. Again, your name and e-mail address are not shared with any third parties. There may be other times when we request or acquire your e-mail address, such as when you send us an e-mail with questions or comments. We will use only your e-mail address to respond to e-mails from you, forward and send your e-mails to and from other registered users and internal employees who may be able to respond to you, send information to you concerning your account, and inform you of updates to our Web site. We do not share e-mail addresses or any other personal information about our registered users with advertisers, business partners, sponsors or other third parties except to provide services you have requested.

Special contests and promotions

The organization may occasionally feature a contest/promotion for nurses. In order to enter the contest/promotion, we require you to provide us with your name, phone number and e-mail address so that we can contact you if you win. We also ask for other information that will help us reach nurses with our extensive site offerings. Your information will only be shared with third parties if you request to receive information from the provider parties.

What about privacy policies for sites linked to STTI, NKI or VHL?

Our family of web sites may contain links to other websites that have their own policies and practices with respect to online privacy. We are not responsible for the privacy practices or the content of these websites. In addition, in certain instances an advertiser may ask you for personal information. We are not responsible for the privacy practices of advertisers.

Notification of changes

Because our websites will continue to implement new technologies and improve the services and features we provide, this policy is subject to change. If there are changes or additions to this Privacy Policy, we will post those changes here or in other formats we deem acceptable, so that you will always know what information we collect online or offline, how we use it and what choices you have. If we change our information practices or this Privacy Policy in such a way that your personal information may be used or shared in a different manner, we will give you the choice to opt-out of having your past information used or shared in that new manner.

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