Administrative leave - accessed chart

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Hello,

I was just put on administrative leave with pay for accessing a "XYZ" chart.

I needed to access the chart as another nurse was busy, and there was a situation with the patient.

What can I do?

Where do I start?

Should I contact an attorney?

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Specializes in Hospice.

Yes, contact an attorney, since we cannot provide legal advice on AN.

Does a "situation with a patient" mean that you were providing care while the assigned nurse was busy? If so, then HIPAA doesn't apply. Let the process play out.

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Yes. The assigned nurse was busy, I was approached by the family members in distress, I assisted and during this time accessed the chart.

Thank you.

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Specializes in PICU, Sedation/Radiology, PACU.

I find it extremely difficult to believe that you would be placed on leave without pay for accessing the chart of a patient for which you provided care and I suspect there's more to the story here. Were you even asked for an explanation? Did you only access the information necessary to do your job or were you reading parts of the chart that you didn't need to read?

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Specializes in Hospice.

Or were you providing information to a family member who is not the POA?

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Specializes in Emergency Dept. Trauma. Pediatrics.
I find it extremely difficult to believe that you would be placed on leave without pay for accessing the chart of a patient for which you provided care and I suspect there's more to the story here. Were you even asked for an explanation? Did you only access the information necessary to do your job or were you reading parts of the chart that you didn't need to read?

It was leave with pay. But I agree, if you were involved in this patients care while the other nurse was busy this wouldn't be a HIPAA violation. Or if the nurse was tied up and the family and pt were asking about something you checked on, this wouldn't be a violation. That's what team work is about.

If this had nothing to do with the patient, or the patient did not permit this and you looked up information for the family. That would be a violation along with many other scenarios. Seems some info is missing.

If there is no information missing and you can prove what you are claiming (which shouldn't be hard) then you should be fine.

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