Possible termination for HIPAA violations

brooklynne · Sep 23, 2011

Magnolia, Thank you for sharing your story. I hope that you find inner peace and strength to handle whatever the outcome may be. Hopefully,they make a decision soon and it's nothing major.

I will be starting my first job in nursing soon and I've benefited from hearing your story and I am sure others have as well.

nursinger · Sep 23, 2011

Don't worry Magnolia, everything will be ok. Don't listen to these hard ***** they'll only scare you to death. Whatever the outcome it'll be a lesson learned. Remember the Lord is on your side. He'll take care of you. Keep your chin up and You'll be fine. Peace to you.

.

Sun_danc3rRN · Sep 23, 2011

I don't agree...it's not the same as talking about pts in the lunch room. Honestly, I don't see the big criminal offense in this. This is a new nurse, who was bored, trying to stay awake, perusing medical records. There was no ill intent, no maliciousness, she wasn't looking for anyone specific, and probably couldn't recall the names now anyhow!...and isn't this just another way of continuing her education? I mean, you see a pt has disease XXX and that leads to the following s/s and change in lab values. How is it different than when in nursing school and you make care plans? You're technically NOT the nurse responsible for care, yet you read every crumb the chart gives up. And, if you care for a patient and they're transferred to another unit, don't you ever want to check up on that patient? See what their outcome was? Did your efforts to save their life pay off? Of course, but under this way of thinking, that's a HIPAA violation.
Now, if she were perusing the local STD reports and looking for her ex-boyfriends new girlfriend, I can see the outrage, but this? not so much. Lesson learned, move on. Just my 2 cents...
Sorry, just read you're a nursing student...trust me, your views will change as you begin practicing. If you care now, you will learn you don't stop caring just because they left your unit.

I work in a very small hospital, where I have had to be a to be a patient as well. My fellow co-workers have no need, reason, nor right to know my medical history..none..and if I found out they were in my chart, I would prosecute to the full extent of the law. I don't care if they were bored and trying to stay awake. It is an invasion of privacy, which is why HIPAA laws were created to begin with. The difference between this and the nursing school that I went to was that my nursing school required us to get permission from the patient to be in their chart, and sign a document stating such. To me this is as much a violation as if someone looked up or hacked my bank account or stole my identity. Using the excuse of being a new nurse on night shift is just that, an excuse. It was wrong, be accountable for your actions, learn from them, deal with whatever the "punishment" is. We all know that since HIPAA has been enacted we have had classes in school and every single orientation you have ever done in the medical field since that time addresses these things. Call me wrong, I don't care, but I even have a pop up that comes up when someone accesses my chart that if they are not a primary health care provider, nurse or doctor, case manager, etc., they have been recorded in my chart, they must exit immediately, and a full audit will be requested as to who was in my chart. We are grown ups, take responsibility for your actions, deal with the repercussions, and don't ever forget the lesson you learned from it.

Sun_danc3rRN · Sep 23, 2011

Don't worry Magnolia, everything will be ok. Don't listen to these hard ***** they'll only scare you to death. Whatever the outcome it'll be a lesson learned. Remember the Lord is on your side. He'll take care of you. Keep your chin up and You'll be fine. Peace to you.
.

Maybe if the OP had listened to the "hard *****" ie, instructors, hospital facilitators, they would NOT have their own *** on the line risking the career they worked so hard for because they are "bored" and decided to break the law. Maybe it is the lackadaisical attitude such as the one you seem to present about this situation they find themselves in trouble. :rolleyes:

Meriwhen, ASN, BSN, MSN, RN · Sep 23, 2011

Speaking not as a nurse but as a patient, I'd be pretty ticked if someone was browsing through my medical charts when they had no right to be.

I don't think you meant any malice or ill will in your actions, though. It shouldn't be something that you should be punished forever for--it was just a careless mistake, and I hope you can learn from it and move past it.

Definitely get malpractice insurance, whether through the NSO or another agency. You should have it not just for this incident but for your career as a whole. You never know if something you did, right or wrong, will come back to haunt you several years later...especially with people being so sue-happy nowadays. Hospitals only care about themselves and despite all the promises they may make about looking out for their employees, they won't hesitate to throw you under the bus if it saves their hide. You need to protect yourself at all times and if it ever comes down to legal action, you need someone whose primary interest is looking out for YOU and no one else.

Best of luck!

nursinger · Sep 23, 2011

She'll be fine. :rolleyes: oh and Magnolia, if you ever get sick, remember don't go to the hospital you work at. You know for sure all the little noiseybodies will be in your chart. Then you can sue them all hahahahaha!

luvazsun, RN · Sep 23, 2011

Who determines who has a "right" to look at your chart? I believe all patients sign a consent stating they agree to allow their information to be shared with appropriate personnel - insurance companies, nurse managers, etc. The charge nurse knows about all the patients, but does she take care of all of them? The same goes for the NM, etc. I think your situation was blown way put of proportion, and until you seek advise from an expert in HIPPA violations (which you should do so immediately, and independent of your hospital), you shouldn't get worked up about it. I agree that you should be familiar with all the patients on your unit - which makes you a team player, and if you needed to cover any other patient for another nurse, you need to know about that patient. I've never worked in a unit where I didn't get at least a brief summary of all the patients in case a nurse went home sick, or a critical admission took precedent, or I answered a call light for someone else's patient (gasp!) - we all pitched in to cover other nurses assignments.

Sounds like newer nurses are getting the fear of The HIPPA God put in them.....

GimiRN · Sep 23, 2011

From her posts, I think it's clear that the OP realizes that what she did, was wrong and a very serious offense. So what good is making her feel worse and throwing it in her face going to do? She already knows she messed up.

To Magnolia- I do think you should prepare for termination or suspension, just in case you are faced with it. But like others have said, what's done is done. You learned from it, now all you can do is plan for whatever lies ahead.

Do some research on what your facility and state typically do for such an offense, call the board of nursing and ask questions, consult an attorney, start looking at other job options...get as much information as you can, so you can better deal with your situation.

And try to remain positive and have faith. I am in no way trying to make light of what has occurred. But you can't keep harping on the "what ifs" and "I should have" this or that. Bad things happen to people everyday, but you just have to keep going and not give up. Good luck to you!

JS343 · Sep 23, 2011

I have no idea if the hospital will give you another chance. It's certainly not mandated that they have to fire you. It's not as if you did this with malicious intent.

You might have a partial defense if the hospital really did not explain their policies and applicable laws to you. That almost certainly is their responsibility under JCAHO.

Esme12, ASN, BSN, RN · Sep 23, 2011

Who determines who has a "right" to look at your chart? I believe all patients sign a consent stating they agree to allow their information to be shared with appropriate personnel - insurance companies, nurse managers, etc. The charge nurse knows about all the patients, but does she take care of all of them? The same goes for the NM, etc. I think your situation was blown way put of proportion, and until you seek advise from an expert in HIPPA violations (which you should do so immediately, and independent of your hospital), you shouldn't get worked up about it. I agree that you should be familiar with all the patients on your unit - which makes you a team player, and if you needed to cover any other patient for another nurse, you need to know about that patient. I've never worked in a unit where I didn't get at least a brief summary of all the patients in case a nurse went home sick, or a critical admission took precedent, or I answered a call light for someone else's patient (gasp!) - we all pitched in to cover other nurses assignments.
Sounds like newer nurses are getting the fear of The HIPPA God put in them.....

Patients do sign a general "consent form" that talks about access to their MR (medical record) or EMR (electronic medical record) on admission. The "right" to look at a medical record does not include pursuing medical records of the facility and patients off of your floor. The right to look or not look can be interpreted by the facilities themselves on a "need to know" basis.....they get to determine the need to know.

Getting report on many patients in a general area or answering a call light does not constitute a HIPAA violation but browsing through medical records of patient not in your care does. The charge nurse (because she is the charge nurse of the floor) will have more "leeway" in what records she enters than someone else. Just like there are different levels of security of the Government. Just because you are the janitor at the White House doesn't mean you can answer the phone in the oval office.

:hug: I am so sorry you are going through this.........and Without knowing the whole story it is difficult to say whether they are right or wrong. Getting malpractice insurance now will not help your present situation as the event has already occurred but I would get it immediately to protect you form now on ....It's cheap and as you will find seeking legal council is VERY expensive to the point of being cost prohibitive. Some facilities do go a bit overboard in their zealous pursuit of doing "the right thing". Valuable lesson learned. Deal with the consequences. To err is human but to forgive yourself is the most important. What's done is done.....time to look ahead to the next step..

Good luck!!!!:heartbeat

http://www.hhs.gov/ocr/privacy/

nursemichelle80, BSN, RN · Sep 23, 2011

So when do you find out??????

nursinger · Sep 23, 2011

you'll be fine, I'm telling you. It's not a big deal.your guardia angel is here and Don't worry about it. Jesus is here and he.ll help you. Your safe in there hands. TRust me You many have to face alittle consequence but that's ok you'll get thrugh it ok the Lord will guide you...no problem If you have to persue a lawyer you go right ahead .