Secrecy is a matter that anyone thinking of a nursing job needs to be serious about it. If you are the one who feels difficult to understand what you can discuss openly and what you need to keep private, a nursing career may not be right for you.
In the past couple of years, maintaining confidentiality in nursing profession has become even more of an issue because of the stricter privacy rights and HIPAA regulations. For a nurse, you must understand that curiosity is a natural phenomenon among human, however, knowing when it’s suitable to seek out information and when it’s not, is the key aspect of professionalism in the field of patient care services. This is because patients trust their health care providers, and nurses have long been listed as one of the most trusted and compassionate among all the professions. Thus, to preserve that status, nurses must understand secrecy issues.
In the most recent past, breeches in confidentiality has been news worthy and sought regulatory attention. Health related information leaks of some celebrities such as Britney Spears and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger became the talk of the town, resulting in firing of several nurses and other health care employees.
As a nursing professional, you need to understand that if you have no need to know anything about a patient in your facility in relationship to your job, then you have no need to be accessing the medical records. It might be interesting to find out the home address or the phone number of a specific celebrity. But, you can only use the information as per the need or services provided by your health care employer, you have no right to have that information for your personal use. Now, this is something that comes under the breach of confidentiality.
If you are caring for that patient, and need to call his home or contact his next of kin about matters related to patient care, that’s a different story. You need to access the information, but you also need to not keep or use the information for any other purpose. You also cannot share the fact that this person was your patient with your family and friends. On the same note, you cannot discuss the details of any patient with your family and friends. All patients have the same right to privacy.
Abiding by the confidentiality in nursing profession is what makes you a dependable nurse. Don’t let your own curiosity ruin your nursing job.
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