Privacy breaches
Privacy breaches are serious offenses that negatively affect the trust between nurses and patients. To maintain this trust, nurses must maintain the privacy and security of patient information. Read the scenarios below related to the protection of health information.
Scenario 1
A nurse posted the following comment on her social media page: “Can this shift be any longer? It started out with a waiting room full of nagging people that don’t seem to know what “emergency” means. Then I had to deal with the drama of trying to transfer a 400 lbs. (no joke) intubated COPD patient down the hall to the ICU, those ICU nurses are such divas and I wasn’t in the mood for their whining. Someone help!
- Describe the privacy and security issues related to this social media posting.
Scenario 2
A nurse educator is preparing a presentation poster for an infectious disease conference. She includes pictures of varying stages of a client’s lesions in the poster.
- Describe the privacy and security issues related to the inclusion of patient information on the poster.
Scenario 3
- Marcus was admitted to the hospital from a long-term care facility. He was diagnosed with dehydration and delirium. He is expected to return to the facility. The charge nurse at the facility calls for an update regarding his status.
- Describe the privacy and security issues related to sharing this information with the long-term care facility.
