Patient Confidentiality

Confidentiality is a concept of vast importance for professionals in the medical field. It is a professional obligation in this field and is considered to be an ethical concept that falls in line with integrity, compassion, veracity, charity, and fidelity as explained in both the International Council of Nurses Code for Nurses (1973) and the American Nurses Association Code of Ethics (1985). However, in today’s ever growing world of technology and demand for information, challenges continue to arise that force doctors and nurses to reexamine virtues such as confidentiality.

Social media is now a key communication platform. It is an effective, easy to use, and easily accessible form of communication to those who have the necessary device but on the hand it has negative effects on privacy and confidentiality when patient information is released to other people in the communication group but the benefits outweighs the demerits (Punjani, N. S., Bhanji, S. M., & Meghani, S. T. 2015). We cannot wish away social media platforms, but we need to be more cautious so as not to leap the negative implications. Good post Carol.

Confidentiality can relate to any form of communication that is capable of sharing applicable information about a patient (SRNA, 2011, p. 26). A registered nurse in Saskatchewan is responsible to advocate for any professional, legal or ethical commitments within the health care community (SRNA, 2011, p. 26). As mentioned in the introduction, the registered nurse from Utah, Alex Wubbels, perfected the act of confidentiality and privacy based on the SRNA’s guidelines. Within Appendix C of the SRNA’s expectations regarding privacy and confidentiality, one of main points is, “Only staff directly involved in a specific client’s care have legitimate access to the records.” (SRNA, 2011, p. 26). Alex Wubbels demonstrated the proper ethical and legal actions when faced with the complicating situation that was at hand. Regardless of being threatened by another legal source, Wubbles performed complete confidentiality and consent of the patient. As privacy and confidentiality is a large component of nursing, Wubbels handled this situation

In the present culture of the United States, social media has had a major impact in American society. It has a profound influence and intertwined itself in almost every aspect of the average American’s life. It ranges from providing updates of location of a person(s), events, and sharing personal moments. Even different industries are utilizing social media as a platform for communication, information, and sales mediums. One industry, the health care field has seen a rise in the utilization of social media. For instance, an emerging population of physicians are using social media apps such as Snap Chat, Facebook, and YouTube to educate, display surgical, and medical procedures while being performed. In contrast, as there are positive aspects of utilizing social media, a negative trait of social media is invading and exposing individual’s privacy. As of recent, a New York licensed nurse had to surrender her nursing license and sentenced to 3 years of probation for “moral unfitness in the practice (Bowerman, 2016).” She took photos with her phone of two unconscious male patient’s genitalia and shared them with coworkers. This has become an increasing issue and as the utilization of social media in healthcare is increasing, many ethical issues are developing. For instance, the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) was passed for the adoption of a national standard for electronic health care transactions and code sets, unique health identifiers,

Nancy Spector, whom holds a PhD, RN titles from the University of Wisconsin, distinguishes that most patient privacy violations are due to nurses not taking the time to think before posting and inadvertently putting the patient’s info out for persons not admitted to see it. Spector states “The quick and efficient technology enabling use of social media reduces not only the time it takes to post, but also the time to consider whether the post is appropriate and what ramifications may come from posting inappropriate content.” Nurses should be able to use social media to help further their relationships with patients and co-workers, with the healthy understanding of how to do so wisely.

Nurses have a duty to protect the rights of their patients including the rights of confidentially and privacy. Privacy is being secluded from the presence of others.

As health care professionals, we have the opportunity to defend, advocate, protect patient rights, enhance dignity and autonomy in our patients. “The American Nurses association (ANA) believes that protection of privacy and confidentiality is essential to maintaining the trusting relationship between health care providers and patients and integral to professional practice” (ANA, 2015). Healthcare providers have the obligation to protect the confidentiality of their patients, and duty to ensure HIPPA privacy is protected. Privacy and confidentiality are basic rights of each human being and health care provider who do not comply with HIPAA regulations or make unauthorized disclosures risk civil and criminal liability. The purpose of this research essay is to reinforce legal aspects of nursing in privacy and confidentiality of individual and HIPPA violation.

Giving an individual the right to divulge only what they feel is necessary and appropriate for their situation gives them a sense of safety in what is known and able to be disclosed to others. All medical personal know that privacy of patients is their main priority in caring for each individual person; in so doing they know that any and all discussions of patients should be done in areas where no one is privy to over hearing or ease dropping on the conversation. In the issue of privacy of care nurses more so than any other person in the medical field have to make sure that they work diligently to keep all patients privacy intact, because nurses are the ones who have the most direct and intimate contact with the patients. “Patient confidentiality is a sacred trust. Nurses are important in ensuring that organizations create an environment to safeguard patients’ rights to confidentiality. As stated in the ANA Code of Ethics,” (ANA, 2001). Medical privacy is really important. When maintaining the privacy of medical information it saves a lot of lives because without the assurance of privacy people would avoid life-enhancing and life-saving treatments. If people feel that their information is not being protected then they will avoid getting treatment done. Privacy isn’t only a means to the

It is said that the number one aspect in patient care is patient safety. Patient safety has numerous components. It begins at the bedside, starting with raising the side rails, making sure the call light is in reach, making sure there is adequate lighting in the room, etc. Although those safety measures are very important, health care professionals tend to forget another aspect of patient safety, patient confidentiality. Privacy and confidentiality are basic rights in our society today. Protection of those rights is a nurses’ ethical and legal obligation. Although it has to been done, it has become increasingly challenging. Confidentiality as it relates to health care dates back to the Hippocratic Oath: “And whatsoever I shall see or hear in

Patient confidentiality is one of the pillars of modern medical profession. It implies that the medical practitioner is under the obligation to keep his patient’s medical profile confidential. The main reason is to help the patient maintain his privacy. However, there have been numerous cases of breach of such confidentiality, which has raised varying ethical implications. Further, there have been instances where the medical practitioner has felt that he needs to divulge such private information to a 3rd party. Often, this results in

However, there are also areas of concern when sharing certain information on public forums. Therefore, along with all of the suggested benefits that social media has to offer to the patient population, it is important to discuss the dangers of social networking, involving personal information. Healthcare providers must always be aware of the context they post on social media. Moreover, any form of breach of the sanctity of the patient-provider relationship can lead to serious consequences for the physician. To avoid any potentially troubling situations the providers must become familiar with American Medical Association (AMA) guidelines for the use of social media (George et al.,

Most concerns about the use of social media in the workforce of health care is the compromisation of a patients privacy and online professionalism (Cheston et al., 2013). To ensure the privacy and online professionalism professional boundaries have been discussed and put in place at many work places (Hillman et al., 2015). If a healthcare worker was to post patient information they may become subject to personal liability and sued for defamation, invasion of privacy or harassment (Springer, 2012). It is essentially important to educate the nursing students on the risks of social media, Essary (2011) found that undergraduates often failed to acknowledge the consequence of their social networking behaviours on present and future professional goals, this may lead to the students struggling to separate professional and personal contents and what is appropriate for public consumption. With the wide growing uses of social media some people are still very naive about how the system works, which can cause a lot of trouble. Once something is uploaded to a social networking site it can never be fully deleted, it has a footprint, social media is not now, nor has it ever been secure (Simpson, 2014). Not only are there the above risks with social media, but also for an undergraduate student

Henderson, M & Dahnke, M.D (2015, p.62) identifies that the greatest risk in use of social media in health care is to the patient’s privacy and confidentiality. If the established trust between a patient and nurse is broken, the patient may no longer feel comfortable revealing crucial information to health workers. As well as patient privacy and confidentiality, it is also possible for a nurse to cause harm by sharing the private and confidential information of their colleagues via the use of social media.

Social media is a public outlet and very powerful form of communication that can have a significant impact on organizational, professional, and individual reputations. In the facilities where I work now, as well as other facilities I have worked in the past, there are strict guidelines pertaining to confidentiality and privacy. For example, we are strictly prohibited from posting any information that could reveal patient information. We also can not post patient images, videos or pictures, anyone else’s health information or any information that could violate patient privacy. Any communication or posting on social media can not display any obscene, threatening, intimidating or harassing comments about colleagues, patients, families or the

The fifteen articles that were found together by the three researchers, included many useful information regarding privacy and security measures of social media in health care. Each article has been summarized what materials were found to be useful and pertained to our topic. These included ways that health care facilities are taking advantage of the use of social media and technology and also how patients as well as physicians are reacting to the impact of this data. Also included in the following articles were how social media in health care can cause issues with privacy and security if proper guidelines and policies aren’t followed.