I'm seeing a lot of unprofessional posting here related to venting about patients

[Garethaus]

Hi,

I'm just a newbie here but I have to comment on what I'm seeing here. Specifically nurses sharing their stories of their interactions with difficult patients.

Surely it is unprofessional to be sharing patient details? Even with the names changed, enough specific details are being provided by certain nurses that could identify a patient.

Anyone can access this website. Any patient can check out this website. I admit, the chances are not great that this will happen, but it could happen.

I don't think it is appropriate or professional to post here and ***** about patients, difficult or not.

Usually the unprofessional offenders mention that they just gotta vent. I don't think as nurses / nurse students collectively we should be initiating some of the threads here; or participating in them. I think nurses who have to ***** about a patient should find a more appropriate outlet to do so.

Just my two cents.

[joanna73, BSN, RN]

Any posts which you feel are in violation of terms of service, please feel free to contact the help desk or click the yellow triangle at the bottom of said post. Doing so alerts moderators who will promptly address your concerns. Furthermore, I respectfully disagree that people are regularly violating patient information. I've been on AN for almost 3 years on a regular basis, and I'm not seeing this.

[SionainnRN]

I 100% agree with the OP. Sometimes, I read some of the grossly detailed patient information

here and I cringe. This is such a violation of HIPAA and is extremely unprofessional.

Patient information should be protected at all cost no ands, ifs, or buts about it.

First, it's "no ifs, ands or buts". Second, if you feel so strongly then feel free to leave or report the post. According to your profile you are also a student and your views may change once you're working and dealing with what we deal with.

[TheCommuter, BSN, RN]

I 100% agree with the OP. Sometimes, I read some of the grossly detailed patient information

here and I cringe. This is such a violation of HIPAA and is extremely unprofessional.

Patient information should be protected at all cost no ands, ifs, or buts about it.

Keep in mind that healthcare workers are allowed to share their stories about patients, families, colleagues, and visitors as long as no real names or other specific identifying information has been divulged.

[VolMom]

I've been a nurse 22 years. I definitely consider myself to be a professional with character and high standards of integrity. I do not see anything wrong with venting about patients and situations. Even in graduate school, we share stories of situations we have been in or patients we have had to solve problems with. Protected health information is what cannot and should not ever be shared. There is no way anyone could identify my patient if I vented about a labor patient I had today who spit on me. Just an example.

[Esme12, ASN, BSN, RN]

I 100% agree with the OP. Sometimes, I read some of the grossly detailed patient information

here and I cringe. This is such a violation of HIPAA and is extremely unprofessional.

Patient information should be protected at all cost no ands, ifs, or buts about it.

As a nursing student just beginning their journey.....it is difficult to understand the nuances of HIPAA. There is nothing in HIPAA that says nurses cannot talk about patients they care for as long as the patient cannot be identified with 2 identifiers. There are even academic waivers in HIPAA that allow academic discussions of patients cases without identifiers.

As the OP states...in other threads/posts, they are a student as well...it is so difficult to understand the nuances of the profession. When you are on the outside looking in. Caring for the human race is messy.....life is messy. Dealing with the general public for extended periods of time make you sometimes wonder about the future of the human race. ANYONE outside of the profession have a difficult time understanding the frustration and truth of what we do....every single day.

Many of us see the new faces that enter our world....fresh faced, ambitious....ready to cure the world and stamp out disease. They have amazing insight into the world of nursing and how they are going to save it....and the world. We have also seen that many of these fresh faced individuals who are running so fast to light the fire to cure all that ails the world.....have their flame extinguished too quickly because they are unprepared for the brutality of the everyday grind of nursing.

As a nurse of 34 years....I can't even begin to tell you how many times I have seen this. Graduates today just aren't prepared for the reality of nursing and are far too judgmental of their fellow man...including the mentors there to help them succeed. Nurses, good nurses, are a special breed.

I....LOVE being a nurse. For 34 years I have LOVED being a nurse....for all it's flaws, joys, disappointments and resounding failures. We as nurses commensurate with other nurses so we can go back for more tomorrow. Yes...allnurses is public and the public is welcome to read what we write.....nursing is not for the faint of heart and neither is this site.

What we all need to remember....is that allnurses....

promote the idea of lively debate. This means you are free to disagree with anyone on any type of subject matter as long as your criticism is constructive and polite....we also ask that you please refrain from name-calling. This is divisive, rude, and derails the thread. Our first priority is to the members that have come here because of the flame-free atmosphere we provide. There is a zero-tolerance policy here against personal attacks. We will not tolerate anyone insulting other's opinion nor name calling.

Our call is to be supportive, not divisive. Because of this, discrimination, racial vilification and offensive generalizations targeting people of other races, religions and/or nationalities will not be tolerated.

[metal_m0nk, BSN, RN]

Truth is, some of those who are protecting their right to post questionably personal information about patients are no doubt folks who have never had *their* personal health information shared, debated and judged in a public forum - primarily because they feel protected by the very policies they come so close to violating here.

Just as those who say, "Once you gain some experience in the field, you'll understand," someone who *has* had their personal health information shared, debated and judged in a public forum - like say, somewhere in their local community - would likely agree that once you have some experience with having your privacy violated in that way, you would understand how damaging it actually is and might think twice before doing it to someone else.

[joanna73, BSN, RN]

Where are these unprofessional posts? Truth is, some people are making blanket statements and generalizations about posters violating patient information, just to be divisive. I've read some of the OP's other posts and I sense that is the goal. All of us can make claims about various issues, but that doesn't mean it's accurate. Perceptions vary with all of the members.

[nursel56]

Truth is, some of those who are protecting their right to post questionably personal information about patients are no doubt folks who have never had *their* personal health information shared, debated and judged in a public forum - primarily because they feel protected by the very policies they come so close to violating here.

Just as those who say, "Once you gain some experience in the field, you'll understand," someone who *has* had their personal health information shared, debated and judged in a public forum - like say, somewhere in their local community - would likely agree that once you have some experience with having your privacy violated in that way, you would understand how damaging it actually is and might think twice before doing it to someone else.

I don't know what you and jnjo are referring to with "detailed information" about any individual, and never by name. Not sure why you're implying that nurses have never had their personal information posted in a public place. If you can provide a rough description of these, we can take the appropriate action. If you don't remember the specifics you can send them a Private Message if you like.

While staff keeps a good eye on this forum, the number of posts ensures that not every one of them will be seen. I'm sure you wouldn't want someone's detailed information to remain on the board.

[Jennybrie]

While students are encouraged to use AN, I feel that if they are going to start accusatory threads such as this, maybe the student should just stay over in the student section of AN and save their energy. Kind of gets a little irritating.

I usually do (stay on my side of the section) and agree with what all of you are saying about this topic and the attitudes that some of us students have. I'd wish some of my fellow students would keep their opinions to themselves and sit back and learn from those of you that have walked a few miles in the professional world. I come over to the "real" side of this nursing forum to catch a glimpse of what it would be like to be one of you. I would never think of telling any of you my opinion on anything about nursing because I have no ground to stand on.

Please don't think all students are like the OP. I'm here to learn from you and am very happy that you show the real side of nursing that our instructors and text books don't talk about. My few hours at clinical doesn't scratch the surface of what it really means to be a nurse.

I commend you all for your dedication and honesty. I hope after a few years I can come on to this site and vent along with you:yes:

[nurseymama]

I LOVE this board. It lets me know that I am not the only one that faces the problems that I face. It also lets me see that if it was something I had to solve that night that I approached it the same way that others did. My post name is what it is because there are millions of nurses that are mothers out there and if I ever should post to vent or for advice on a situation that may be resident/patient specific I would change my avatar and no one would know. As other posters have stated if I were to come home and tell my husband what happened he would give me a black and white solution, he is a machinist he doesn't deal with the large amount of grey area that we do. So please before you call this unprofessional realize the benefits reaped of having a board like this to consult when you come across an issue in your practice. Someday you will appreciate knowing how others chose to handle a situation.

[nurseymama]

I used to think that too at one time

[PacoUSA, BSN, RN]

You're a self-proclaimed NEWBIE, you don't know enough to make this call on nurses. I remember being just like you. Now that I have been in the profession for a while (not a long while, granted, but long enough) ... trust me, I don't judge any nurse for a need to vent anymore! And a smart nurse knows to change details enough to keep HIPAA intact, even details.