The Implications of Confidentiality for Nurses

Nurses have ethical and legal obligations to protect the privacy of people requiring and receiving care. This encompasses treating as confidential information gathered for professional purposes only (Privacy Act, 1988), therefore in regards to the case study this registered nurse has failed to uphold her professionalism and failed to comply with her Code of Conduct and has accessed his medical files in order for her to gather his personal information, then proceeded to message the partner of the patient to inform her of his diagnosis therefore, breaching her duty of care to the patient – even though she is not

On that same day, the patient’s wife stated that her neighbor phoned the hospital to get information on her husband and information was given out. It is clear that the nurse who gave out information regarding the patient was in violation of 3.1, privacy and 3.2, confidentiality of provision 3 of the ANA Code of Ethics. It is the nurse’s duty to maintain all confidentiality and privacy of all patient information. (Nursing World, 2012) Information regarding a patient should only be given out to those who are dealing with the direct care of the patient. It is important for nurses to be aware of those who are not involved with the care of the patient.

Confidentiality is critical for nursing professional to understand and undertake. If a nurse did not keep a

The Chapelhow et al. (2005) effectively portrays a framework that provides patients with an approach to person centered care. It provides health professionals with important aspects that allow them to perform in an effective way that has the best interests of the patients at heart. The characteristics it outlines are assessment, communication, risk management, record keeping and documentation, professional decision making and managing uncertainty.

HIPAA confidentiality is important for very patient but for some reasons when they hear someone has HIV or AIDS it gives them the right to talk about it with others which have no reason to know. I will show why it is so important to be sensitive to this type of health conditions. Will examine the social, legal, and ethical ramifications of improper information disclosure.

The ANMC (2010, pp.6) state on the topic of confidentiality, that nurses must insure the information obtained in a professional setting remain private and that information received is not used by nurses to give them an advantage or power in any way. Education in the matter is one solution to guarantee the boundaries and to keep a professional position. These breaches can be classified as boundary crossings, boundary violations or sexual misconduct and can lead to violations of a nurse’s professional responsibility causing consequences to occur.

According to Provision 8 of the American Nurses Association (ANA) Code of Ethics, “The nurse collaborates with other health professionals and the public to protect human rights, promote health diplomacy, and reduce health disparities.” (American Nurses Association, n.d.). Therefore, nurses and other healthcare workers must set aside any preconceived notions about a populace in order to provide equal care amongst all populations. This includes patients who are HIV positive. Nurses and healthcare workers must ignore the stigma surrounding the disease and communicate effectively with these patients in order to assure prompt, compassionate treatment.

As a professional health care worker, the implication confidentiality breach regarding ethical dilemmas are significant to nurse and patient. The information disclosed can cause problems on a personal and professional level. Breach of confidentiality occurs when the heath care work discloses the patient 's medical or personal information without the patient 's informed written or verbal consent. Confidentiality is needed between the nurse and the patient to maintain a good open and honest relationship between both parties. There are several ethical implications regarding breach of confidentiality, for example,

It’s the nurse’s responsibility to keep the information private. It would be appropriate for the nurse to inform a person or family member only if they are authorized to have the patient’s information. Divulging patient information may also be appropriate when given permission by the patient to do

In the patient confidentiality case of Carlos, a 21 year old Hispanic male is being discharged from his hospital stay for a gunshot wound. Carlos is intended to receive nursing care at home from his sister, Consuela. Carlos is secretly a homosexual and is concerned that his secret will be revealed and be disgraced by his family. Carlos pleaded with his physician not to inform his sister that he is HIV-positive. Not informing Consuela would seem to increase her risk of contracting HIV while attending to Carlos’ wounds. The ethical issue is whether Carlos’ physician is justified in breaching confidentiality on the grounds that he has the “duty to warn”

It becomes more difficult to take the most ethical course of action when HIV or AIDS is encountered given that they have own ethical issues (Center for Substance Abuse Treatment, 2000). Many such patients desire to avoid pubic judgment because of the fact that HIV can be transferred through sexual activity and by sharing drug equipment. They need their privacy to be maintained and their problem to be solved, therefore professionals working at the agency should respect these rights and prevent discrimination of persons with HIV/AIDS, or labeling with “drug user” or “homosexual” (Newcomb & Bentler,

As healthcare providers, maintaining a patient’s confidentiality, human dignity and privacy is expected at all times. Nurses are faced with maintaining patient confidentiality on a daily basis. The Coded of Ethics for Nurses is the framework of nonnegotiable ethical standards and obligations that all nurses are to uphold. Nurses are to be accountable for their actions and are expected to advocate and strive to protect the rights, health and safety of patients (American Nurses Association, 2011).

Although confidentiality is considered to be of great importance in therapeutic relationship, one must not assume it to be independent. In particular, confidentiality ought to be compromised whenever it conflicts with a higher moral value, such as the duty to safeguard human life. Most often physicians do not know if to disclose the HIV status of their patients to known contacts or if failure to do so may give rise to liability if the known contact becomes HIV positive. This is one of the most controversial issues in reporting and partner notification

Evan and the other patients have a right to confidentiality; therefore, legally his HIV status cannot be disclosed to the other patients (HIV/Psychiatric manual, 1997). In assessing Evan's rights and the duties of the nurse, Evan has a right to confidentiality, trust, informed treatment decisions and quality care. An Bord Analtrais "Code of Professional Conduct" (2000) states that the nurse is obliged to dutifully undertake these rules. However, Claire's health and that of the former partner are at stake. The nurse will break the confidentiality and trust rules by telling Claire of Evan's illness. The nurse has a responsibility towards other professionals therefore informed decisions and quality care will not be carried out until information of Evan's HIV status is divulged. The last aspect of "Defining the Problem", is to recognise the main ethical problem to be addressed which is whether or not to dismiss patient-nurse confidentiality and trust in order to get adequate healthcare for Claire and Evan's other partner.

This essay will discuss why confidentiality is important within nursing practice and the reasons why a registered nurse and student nurse are accountable and to whom they are accountable to in relation to patient care. It will further discuss patient’s rights in relation to law.