answering the patient's daughter's call = invasion of privacy?

Published

If a caller identifies herself as the patient's daughter, and asks, "How is my mom?"

What am I supposed to do?

Well, at my hospital there is an access code that must be given by all who want informatino pertaining to a pt

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Medsurg/ICU, Mental Health, Home Health.
sometimes it's not ok to even acknowledge to a family member that the patient is indeed at the facility.

In that case, the patient needs to be listed as confidential, or an "A" patient, or whatever one's facility does. That way, only certain people have the "password" or "passcode."

I have enough responsibility without having to worry about who's on the black sheep list in regards to the family.

There's nothing wrong with saying the patient is in stable condition (as long as the patient is not confidential), that visiting hours are open at whatever time, and (if the patient is awake and it's not overnight hours) the person is more than welcome to speak to the patient or have the patient call him/her.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in LTC, Memory loss, PDN.
Having just been through this as "the daughter" myself I have some very strong feelings about it that I thought about starting a thread about, called "a little bit of knowledge is a dangerous thing".

Sometimes a patient's condition has a sudden enough onset there isn't time to make up a complete contact list. Anyway when I called to talk to my mom's nurse she went through the whole HIPAA thing - and I guess trying to be helpful offered that my mom was very tired and sleepy. When I asked what the reason for that might be she sort of hemmed and hawed - and after a while would only agree that it was probably just from the stress and pain she had been through that day.

It turned out what really happened was that my mom had developed uncontrolled bleeding of unknown etiology at that time and had required admission to the ICU and transfused several units of blood, and that she had a period of disorientation for several hours as well.

But the "little bit" of info supposedly meant to reassure me gave me a false picture of the real situation, which thank God did not deteriorate further. I don't really blame the nurse but cruel as it may seem not to offer any info it may be better than offering it in dribs and drabs and creating a more benign picture than was the case.

Having thought about this for some time I think the best thing would be to use a PIN number to identify those who you want to allow access to your information in the hospital. It's not foolproof - or a perfect solution but I don't know one that is and protects the patient without putting the staff on the spot with answering questions in a general way in an attempt to reassure but unwittingly creating a false reality.

I totally agree with the "dribs and drabs" thing. If you can't give complete and accurate information don't give any at all.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Psych, Med/Surg, LTC.

I work psych, so it is a bit easier for me. If the patient did not sign a consent form to give info to the patient calling, we can't even confirm or deny they are a patient.

nurse answers phone, "hi, I am wondering how mary smith is doing. is she eating"

"hold one moment please" (checks for consent form- then goes from there) either give info desired, or say "I am sorry, I can not confirm or deny that mary is a patient here" I am sorry for the inconvenience. Please contact the unit coordinator at 890-3432 if you require further assistance.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Obs & gynae theatres.

I know of one pt who had her brother ring up. Nurse confirmed her presence by say she'd had a comfortable night. When she told the pt her brother had called she found out she hadn't got a brother.

Turns out it was her boss trying to confirm why she was off sick and that she really was in hospital. :rolleyes:

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Critical Care.

My hospital uses a code word. The patient picks whatever word they want, and it is up to them to give the code word to who they want.

Up Vote Up Vote ×

My hospital also uses a PIN number, but not in the ED. Every patient is asked by patient registration if it is ok to let others know they are there if someone should call, and 99% of them say yes. So we can almost always tell those who call that a patient is there in the ED.

Beyond that, we don't given any information to anyone unless we have personal knowledge that the caller is in fact who they claim to be and we have permission from the patient to give them information. If we can't verify the caller's identity, we will often take down a number and allow the patient to call them on one of our portable phones.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in LTC, Memory loss, PDN.
You do come across some interesting family dynamics and sometimes it's not ok to even acknowledge to a family member that the patient is indeed at the facility. Therefore, if I don't have express permission from the patient, documentation or POA, I say, " At this time it is against the law for me to disclose any information."

I don't make apologize or make excuses for HIPAA.

"I don't make apologize.." ??? Apparently I don't make good English either. :D

Up Vote Up Vote ×
I know of one pt who had her brother ring up. Nurse confirmed her presence by say she'd had a comfortable night. When she told the pt her brother had called she found out she hadn't got a brother.

Turns out it was her boss trying to confirm why she was off sick and that she really was in hospital. :rolleyes:

This puts a whole new light on the message brought to me when I was in the ER waiting to be admitted.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
+ Join the Discussion