Patients must trust their health care providers to get the best care. If they do not trust the nurses providing their care; this can severely affect the care they receive. The diagnosis could be wrong if the patient provides inaccurate or incomplete information about their symptoms and history. If the patient is reluctant to share their private information their care givers will be treating them as if they had blinders on. Only the external information can be seen not the underlying cause of disease. If the medical profession did not have an understanding with the public that their secrets will not be revealed to any one without the patient’s permission getting accurate appropriate care would be very hard. Patients would be afraid to be honest about problems that could affect every part of their life.
Legislation was passed to protect patients after AIDS epidemic of the 1980’s. Not understanding how AIDS was acquired and passed on to others made every one fearful. Private health information cannot be revealed to any one without permission of the patient not even to their closest family members or to the patient’s employer. We must encourage honesty from the patient to be able to effectively treat their problems.
Legislation has been passed to protect patients with psychiatric problems because the diagnosis of mental health issues can be devastating to a patient. Patients are entitled to a certain amount of privacy regarding their mental health problems as long as they are not a danger to themselves or others.
Every health care provider involved in the care of a patient has obligation to protect the private health information of every patient in their care. Many health care providers can be involved in the care of each patient. Th...
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...ber 23, 2009 the maximum penalty for violating of the confidentiality of patient civil rights was $11,000. But as nurses if we violate the patient’s rights to privacy we have a personal sense of failure. We take our responsibilities to our patients, to our families, the public and our co-workers.
In nursing the nurses have the control over the professional standards they work to improve the quality of care for patients and their safety. Nurses are also responsible for their autonomy and higher job satisfaction. The quality of standards for our profession helps to create a safe environment and a healthy one atmosphere for nurses to work in.
A good orientation to the profession is one of the most important thing for a new graduate it effects turnover, satisfaction and retention. The standards of practice help create an environment for improving nurse conflict skills.
All health care employees will do everything within their power to protect the patient’s right to privacy. This means they will follow the HIPAA law closely. They will disclose information that is relevant to a specialist or treatment. Also, means they will release information that a patient has asked for as promptly as possible.
Overall these sources proved to provide a great deal of information to this nurse. All sources pertained to HIPAA standards and regulations. This nurse sought out an article from when HIPAA was first passed to evaluate the timeline prospectively. While addressing the implications of patient privacy, these articles relate many current situations nurses and physicians encounter daily. These resources also discussed possible violations and methods to prevent by using an informaticist and information technology.
A basic definition of confidentiality is that information about a patient is not discussed openly (Edge and Groves, 2007). This ethical principle became an issue when the government gave medical facilities lists of people who were in the study. Again, the patients were not informed that they would not be able to
Which is very important for nurses or any medical professional to do in the healthcare profession. Nurses are receiving these patients in their most vulnerable state, nurses are exposed and trusted with the patients’ information to further assist them on providing optimum treatment. Keeping patient’s information private goes back to not just doing what’s morally right but also it also builds that nurse – patient relationship as well. We also have provision three that specifically taps on this issue as well, as it states: “The nurse seeks to protect the health, safety, and rights of patient.” (Nurses Code of Ethics,
This paper will examine This paper will examine the Confidentiality and Doctor Patient Relationship .In the rules of law and ethics that information between the doctor and patient should stray confidential the physician should not leak confidential information that the patient did not want this information revealed to others, confidential between the patient and the doctor is very important. It is based on trust and if these are the information were not protected will cease to trust in the doctor-patient relationship would be diminished. Patients should be informed about the information being held about to them, why and how they may be shared, and who may be shared with
Today, you have more reason than ever to care about the privacy of your medical information. This information was once stored in locked file cabinets and on dusty shelves in the medical records department.
...). Privacy and Health Information Technology. Journal of Law Medicine, 37(2), 121-149. Retrieved January 28, 2011 from CINAHL database
Cross and Sim (2000) cite Reid (1981) who defines confidentiality as “ the principle of maintaining the security of information elicited from an individual in the privileged circumstances of a professional relationship”. It has been highlighted by the Health Care Professional Council (HCPC, 2012) that when working in healthcare and dealing with personal information regarding patients, it is every health professionals role to ensure that information is handled correctly and kept safe. If for any reason personal information is required to be shared or passed on then the patient should provide informed consent (HCPC, 2012). The HCPC (2012) also note that if confidentiality is broken this may affect the care and patient relationship and result in patients being reluctant to share information important to their proper care.
Doctors, hospitals and other care providers dispute that they should have access to the medical records and other health information of any patient citing that they need this information to provide the best possible treatment for proper planning. Insurers on the other hand claim they must have personal health information in order to properly process claims and pay for the care. They also insist that this will provide protection against fraud. Government authorities make the same arguments saying that in providing taxpayer-funded coverage to its citizens, it has the right to know what it is paying for and to protect against fraud and abuse. Researchers both medical and none nonmedical have the same argument saying that they need access to these information so as to improve the quality of care, conduct studies that will make healthcare more effective and produce new products and therapies (Easthope 2005).
Nurses run into patients’ rights daily like autonomy and informed consent, the rule that deals with patient’s informed consent is the patient will benefit by obtaining adequate and accurate information. The commitment to provide care and the needs of the patient, one reason an informed consent form wouldn’t be signed because of confidentiality, which means that patient wants total privacy; no one is to know he’s there, no paper trial. Another reason would be if no risks were involved.
Out of all the duties of a nurse, one of the most important duties is how the nurse honors the trust of a patient by maintaining the patient’s privacy and safeguarding the patient’s information confidentially. Privacy is the ability of the patient to make the choices in how to handle information regarding him or herself that other individuals are not aware of. As an example, prior to releasing the patient’s private information, the nurse must notify the patient on how their information will be handled and get consent from the patient
In conclusion , professional values are important for nurses to practice and maintain. By striving to maintain these values nurses can improve credibility for the profession, give back to the community and improve care and patient outcomes for everyone. Practicing professional values will help push nurses to evolve, as health care and how it is provided changes due to the advancements in science and technology. Organizations will find success and develop a pleasant work environment that employees will be proud to be a part of. Maintaining professional values will allow all nurses to continue practicing for the simple reason of wanting to care for others and give back to those in need.
Many authors believe that privacy and confidentiality are extremely important, especially when it comes to healthcare ethics. Autonomy has always been a precursor moral theory to these topics. So, should a physician be allowed to respect a patient’s autonomy by concealing their privacy or in certain circumstances should they breach their confidentiality? James Rachel questions in the reading why should privacy be important. Privacy has always been important because it was a way of protecting people’s interest in situations, prevents them from being shamed, and it respect people’s autonomy. Prior to this reason he believes are utility and autonomy. These weren’t strong enough reason to value privacy. There is one example of in which privacy
The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), Patient Safety and Quality Improvement Act (PSQIA), Confidential Information and Statistical Efficiency Act (CIPSEA), and the Freedom of Information Act all provide legal protection under many laws. It also involves ethical protection. The patient must be able to completely trust the healthcare provider by having confidence that their information is kept safe and not disclosed without their consent. Disclosing any information to the public could be humiliating for them. Patient information that is protected includes all medical and personal information related to their medical records, medical treatments, payment records, date of birth, gender, and
Doctor patient confidentiality, is a fundamental element of the practice of medicine. Patients can expect that doctors and their support staff will hold confidential information about them in confidence, unless the release of the information is required by law or for public interest reasons. Ensuring confidentiality is retained allows doctors to examine their patients and receive all relevant information about their condition without a worry of judgement or sharing of the information.