A friend's Mother is a patient

[mauddib]

So I am about half way through RN school and tonight something interesting happened to me and I have questions that hopefully someone here can help me with.

For starters, this took place in NYS.

I was on the floor tonight when a friend spotted me and called me over. His mother was a patient on the floor where I was doing my rotation. He introduced me to her and his father and I never asked any medical questions, not even why she was in the hospital. She volunteered a few things on her own but for the most part we just engaged in some chit chat. She was concerned about her allergy to penicillin not being on her wrist band so I promised to ask her nurse for her about checking her record (not me but the attending nurse) and getting back to her about it.

I told them about using proper hand hygiene just to be safe and said I would stop in to see if she needed anything later on. I also explained that I couldn't look into her chart or do anything treatment oriented with her, but would be willing to help out in any other fashion I was legally able to. Fresh pillow, sheets, utensils, that sort of stuff. I even told my friend when he told me to send his regards to my wife that I couldn't because of privacy rights.

So the problem came later when I saw my friend leave the room with his coat while talking with another student and went over to say goodbye. My professor saw me and told me I couldn't go near any of them because of HIPAA regulations. Now she is more knowledgeable than I by far but I am pretty sure that I wasn't in violation of any laws.

Was I wrong? I mean, we're told to help with any and all patient's on the floor and not just the ones assigned to us so this really got under my skin and she didn't seem to have the time or desire to explain this to me. So hopefully someone here can!

Thanks in advance.

[sapphire18]

As others have said, this is absolutely not a HIPAA violation. Your instructor might not have known that they initiated contact, like writer said. You could just explain that. A lot of people are overly sensitive about HIPAA and exaggerate it...on the flip side, some people are in violation of it all the time. Just saying, I think a lot of people take HIPAA too far sometimes. Better safe than sorry though, I guess.

[lckrn2pa]

These kind of discussions always amuse me and I wonder what these "all knowing and all powerful" nursing instructors think about small town hospitals where you routinely take care of neighbors, family and friends. The reality of the world we live in means we will cross paths with people we know and we must know how to handle this. Instead of telling the OP no contact the "instructor" should have taken this as an oportunity to evaluate the students knowledge in privacy (which is good I may add). You handled the interaction very well, you discussed the parameters of your role in their care and the limitations. As far as the "instructor" is concerned, they need to educate themselves not only on privacy but on how to just take care of folks, since thats our job. Now, since this person is in a role that could determine your future then do what they tell you but understand you handled things very well. Your "insturtor" is well, my mom told me if I don't have anything nice to say then keep my mouth shut....

[MN-Nurse, ASN, RN]

Your professor was just being overcautious. She knows students do boneheaded things and was trying to avoid any potential problems.

[mauddib]

First off, thanks for all the responses!

Well actually I did tell the professor that they called me into the room while I was walking past it. I hadn't even noticed them at all up until that point. Anyway, I spoke with her via email and she's agreed to meet with me when school re-starts in just over a week to answer my questions. She's very reasonable and always willing to help so hopefully she'll be able to help me out with this.

And for the record, I explained to my friend and his parents the privacy rules so that they'd know them to a) feel more secure in the privacy of the Mother and b) so as to understand why I was drawing limitations on our interactions.

All of this I told my professor. So I am looking forward to meeting with her outside of clinical to be able to get a fuller understanding of the situation.

Or who knows, maybe she's just gonna kick me out of the program I hope not though because I really do like helping people and frankly, she is a very understanding and helpful so it should all be good!

[mauddib]

If the instructor was not aware of the earlier interaction, she wouldn't have known that the friend initiated the contact and that the family was apparently comfortable with your presence. It would have looked like you were the one striking up the conversation, and the instructor's caution would have been not only correct, but necessary.

Why didn't you just explain that the friend and family members (including the patient) had started the ball rolling earlier and you were simply saying goodbye?

Instructors are only human. If an important piece of the puzzle is missing, it might be good to supply it rather than get all bent our of shape because she didn't understand.

Just to clarify, my message did say that they spotted me and called me over. The prof. also knew this. And as for the 2nd time, my friend was in the hallway and wearing a jacket so I just walked over to say goodbye as I was 10 feet away from him at the time.