The paper examines a scenario relating to a patient’s privacy issues as far as medical information is concerned. Patient’s medical records are meant for a specific patient, and therefore, they are the properties of the patient. To support this, the HIPAA legislation is in place to ensure that such information is well protected and are not made available to any other person. The paper will discuss the HIPAA laws and its regulatory framework; describe the scenario and recommendations, and the benefits and drawbacks of the outcome.
Exploration of HIPAA
HIPAA Security Rule comprises of various elements, for instance, the individuals covered, the information which is protected in addition to the safeguards which ought to be in place to make sure that there is proper safekeeping of health information which is protected electronically. These rules were developed as there were needs to safeguard privacy as well as the security of certain health information. Additionally, as technology evolved, in addition to these, health care institution shifting from paper procedures to electronic information systems, it requires that information security system be put in place (Cohen & Mello, 2018). A primary objective of HIPAA is protecting the privacy of people’s health information while at the same time creating room for covered entities to adjust to new technologies to better the quality as well as the efficiency of the care given to patients.
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In this case, a nurse took photos of a famous patient with her phone without his consent and has also captured some his electronic health information. Her acts infringe HIPAA’s Title 2. Under Title 2, there are policies and procedures that only allow accessibility of health information to authorized persons and it should be passed by covered entities ( Edemekong & Haydel, 2019) . Health care facilities should also execute software, hardware to records as well as examine activities related to information systems using e-PHI. Further, they should put in place policies ensuring that e-PHI is not destroyed inappropriately. Finally, clinicians have to execute security measures that protect the e-PHI from being accessed by unauthorized persons (Cohen & Mello, 2018). By accessing the records of the patient and taking pictures, the nurse acted unprofessionally and broke the rule of keeping the health records of patients private.
Scenario Conclusion and Recommendations
As mentioned earlier, the scenario involves a nurse took pictures of a patient with her phone without his consent and has also captured some his electronic health information. The following day, as I walk in to my shift, I discover the phone of the night shift nurse on the table. In the process of identifying the phone’s owner, I open it and seek the pictures taken last night. At this point, I have to decide the appropriate action to perform.
There are three options in this scenario. In the first option, I will choose to leave the phone as it is, and hope the owner finds it. The second option entails the pictures to the media so that I can get paid. Finally, I can choose to report the incidence and turn in the phone to the hospital’s administration so that further action can be taken on the responsible nurse.
As a professional who adheres to nursing ethics and dedicated to protecting patients, I will have to report the case to the hospital’s administration fir further action. Whereas the primary care providers and the patients themselves have equal rights to ensuring that the private information contained in the medical records are not made open to everyone ( Edemekong & Haydel, 2019) . However, the nurse should bear more responsibly in safeguarding the medical records of the patient. The nurse captured sensitive data and the idea of leaving such records in the wrong hands of is a bad idea that presents potential dangers to the patient. It is rationale and ethical to report the nurse since the patient’s health status is at risk. Reporting the nurse will enable the administration to take the suitable measures to resolve the scenario without harming the patient.
Furthermore, it is a nurse’s responsibility to take care of a patient’s health information. As a nurse, I have to take responsibility by reporting the case. Although he is not my patient, I am entirely responsible for keeping the privacy of the patient, thus no release of such records should follow ( Edemekong & Haydel, 2019) . The reasons provided above help in understanding the necessity of keeping the records of the patient not only for privacy purposes, but for the future use as well., With the HIPAA law in place, a nurse should aware of his or her role in handling a patient’s health records.
Advantages and Disadvantages of Using Smartphones and Social Media in Healthcare
When used with caution smartphones and social media facilitate several benefits like research, collaboration between clinicians, and including more people in a health system. The technologies can also be used to ease access to healthcare while reducing costs. The greatest drawback of smartphones and social media is illustrated in this case. It can lead to the infiltration of a patient’s health record due to reckless behavior by clinicians. Another drawback is a loss in staff productivity due to cyberloafing.
A health organization should have a user policy to enable the proper use of electronic health information. A clinic should have a security policy to ensure that it examines its security risks and enable the prevention, detection, and correction of security breaches (HHS, 2016). For instance, the minimum and maximum duration ensures that no outside party has the space to log into the institution’s network and access PHI. A user policy will also enable a clinic to describe the suitable punishment for violation of security. Further, the policy will ensure that the workforce can only access information that is meant for their role as requests must pass through the IT department who control access to the network (HHS, 2016). Therefore, a physician or nurse cannot access the information of a patient he is not treating unless he/she is consulted about a certain issue. These guidelines and regulations are important for any health setting.
Conclusion
The case presented in this paper illustrates the violation of Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act. The nurse took pictures of a famous patient and captured some of his private health information. The following day, I picked up the phone and decided to report the case to the hospital’s administration in line with my ethical duties and HIPAA policy. As a health institution that stores electronic health information, a clinic is subjected to the guidelines of electronic protected health information (e-PHI) as stipulated in HIPAA to ensure the security of information. Information security is the maintenance of availability, confidentiality, and integrity of information. In a clinic, this security encompasses ePHI utilized in healthcare processes and decision making in by staff members. The enforcement of user polices and password requirements ensure that an organization and their staff adhere to the tenets of ePHI.
References
Cohen, I. G., & Mello, M. M. (2018). HIPAA and protecting health information in the 21st century. Jama , 320 (3), 231-232.
Edemekong, P. F., & Haydel, M. J. (2019). Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA). In StatPearls [Internet] . StatPearls Publishing.
U.S Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). (2016). HIPAA Security Rule Crosswalk to NIST Cybersecurity Framework . Retrieved from https://www.hhs.gov/sites/default/files/nist-csf-to-hipaa-security-rule-crosswalk-02-22-2016-final.pdf?language=es
