Coworker having access to my password and charting

[CorinneRN]

Here's a little background on what's happening at my facility: My manager has been out for about a month and a half due after having her knee replaced. In her absence, 2 charge nurses on my unit have split her tasks between themselves until she returns. We work at a very small critical access hospital so we're all very familiar with each other. One of these "acting managers" has betrayed my trust in the past (I don't know of any staff who can honestly say they like her); the staff did not get to vote on who would take over while our manager was out.

I went into work last night and was asked to speak with this not-so-trusted "acting manager" right off the bat. She then informed me she "had to reset my password" to unlock charting on a patient that had been discharged a week ago. Apparently, when the patient got to the floor, the admitting nurse charted she gave a medication (that she didn't) that was given in the ER, therefor charging the patient twice for this med. They wanted to go back and amend that data so the patient wasn't charged twice. At the end of our shift we "lock our charts" so no one can go back and chart during our 12 hour shift. If we unlock those times, people can go back and chart something as a late entry, but always under their own name/account and then relock it.

I had to reset my password before work last night (on top of my frustration, there are glitches to my account that weren't there before.. such as I can't electronically second nurse verify/sign to high risk meds, but that's not my point here). My point is: Why does my peer have the ability to go in and delete/change my password and have access to my charting? Isn't that illegal?! Under no circumstances are we allowed to give our password to anyone! Everything that I've charted since I've worked at this facility is now compromised. How do I know what she did or didn't do while having that access? They didn't call us to let us know what she was doing or what the problem was; they could have had all of us come in and unlock our charts without changing our passwords. To top it all off, she sent a mass email to all the nurses she "had to" change passwords for and gave us ALL the same default password to reset our accounts. Which means, now I have the ability to change the passwords of my other coworkers...

I feel very violated. I feel like her actions has potentially put my license on the line. Mine and my coworkers. Everything I worked for is on the line. I'm not sure what to think or feel other than mad as all get out. Where do I go from here? What actions do I take? How do I continue to work there knowing at any time they could do it again?

[nrsang97, BSN, RN]

This needs to be reported to IT and HR like the other posters already said. She shouldn't have any access to your password.

[Esme12, ASN, BSN, RN]

Managers have A LOT of computer access privileges...but they have an electronic signature as well. I would go to HR tell them how uncomfortable you are with her accessing your charting WITHOUT your permission and if the med needed to be deleted or changed why did she not use her own superuser password. That accessing the chart with your user number after the patient was discharged and using your account to make these changes is unethical and as far as I know is falsification of documentation which is liable and can be reported to the BON for inappropriate conduct.

Contact HR and your corporate compliance people...calmly and rationally...as well as your CNO/VP nursing to at least get it on record that you were not consulted. If you carry malpractice insurance(and every nurse should) call them and ask their advice. That is what you pay yhte for.

[nurseprnRN, BSN, RN]

Say, what kind of med was it? If a potential drug of abuse, both you and the ER nurse may be being played. The plot thickens.

[DSkelton711]

This doesn't sound like a good system at all. If passwords can be changed so easily I would be afraid anyone can do it. Yikes, I hope you have HR, Legal, and IT attention for this.

[donsterRN, ASN, BSN]

I agree with every single word written in every single post above mine. Run, run, run to HR, IT, Legal.

[turnforthenurse, MSN, NP]

Managers have A LOT of computer access privileges...

But having access to other employee's passwords and be able to go in under THEIR name to change things? That just isn't right, imo.

In the ER, our chart auditor goes through and makes sure things were correctly charted or the patient was properly charged. If not, we get little "love notes" saying what needs to be changed, so we ourselves go and fix them.

On the floor, if there were charting issues, our manager would just normally fix them herself, but it would be under HER name, not charting under ours.

[CorinneRN]

All our HR personnel were our of the office, otherwise I would have had better answers today. I did speak with my CNO and she was completely aware of what was going on!! She told me IT were the ones to delete our passwords, that IT didn't know our passwords, and therefore did not have access to our accounts. That doesn't explain HOW they were able to get all the way back into that chart to change that med error, it has to be a nurse (and I believe it was an antibiotic, not a narcotic). That doesn't explain why my "acting manager" had that information if IT was responsible for keeping that information (passwords, usernames, etc) confidential. She was, after all, the one to send out the email. There are still too many "what ifs" and I don't feel like I got clear answers.. I'm still very uncomfortable about the entire situation. My "acting manager" STILL had my user name and default password when she sent my coworkers and myself that email telling us what she'd done. She isn't supposed to have "privileges" (if my actual manager has that ability in the first place, I don't know..) And get this! She left all our usernames sitting out on the desk at the nurse's station! That's all we needed to have access to each other's charts!!

What's more is, if my CNO and all those involved know what they did, what will be the repercussions that come back on me if I stay employed there? I'm in a pickle you could say, I'm nearly 4 months pregnant and cannot start a new job and immediately go on maternity leave. That wouldn't be very nice to a new employer.. I feel like my hands are tied. I wish you could all be here to guide me!

[exit96]

I don't know how this fits in but, we use EPIC, we have hard wired PC's at the nurse station and WOW's in the room. We have Onesign- we just badge in on any PC and it brings up up at whatever screen we were using on another PC. The problem is that, lets say I was checking my gmail, badged out and never went back to close gmail. Others have logged in to THEIR Onesign and went to check gmail only to arrive at MY gmail account. There are all kinds of privacy issues at hand. I take my ipad to work now for studying?....heck with that racket!!!

[exit96]

And, I know of a manager that was "watching" (one of her not so favorite nurses pt charts) and told the nurse that she better not forget to do this and that!!!! What?!?!?!

[RhodeIslandMSN]

Many facilities have an ethics hotline you can call. Something seems a bit off and since the CNO seems ok with it, she may change her tune when her superiors get wind of it.

[P_RN, ADN, RN]

I will be beating a dead horse here. The first thing *I* would do is contact my malpractice insurance Service. And yes, I said MY not the hospital's. Any facility that supports a system that allows what happened is not to be trusted to look out for the person compromised. That $99+ a year is well worth having as they have YOUR reputation/license et. al. to protect./

[jadelpn, LPN, EMT-B]

It is most company's policy to not share your password with anyone. That could mean termination for you. I would call the ethics hotline of your parent company, I would speak to risk management. And late entries we need to make in locked charts, WE are responsible for going in and doing ourselves. I would speak to both HR and IT about the glitches in your account. Something smells fishy to me about this whole thing. COVER YOUR BUTT.