Breach of confidentialty

[jonijeanellerbrock]

Hello. I would like feedback, please. I am a home infusion nurse. A few weeks ago, I was on the phone with my scheduler and letting her know that I was looking for a nurse to take over for one of my patients as I was tired of her constantly cancelling her infusion at the last minute. At the end of my venting, I asked that she keep this between us as I was just venting and feared repercussions from the patient and her significant other if they ever knew my true feelings. Long story shortened: the scheduler told my supervisor and my supervisor called the patient's doctor and the patient's doctor told the patient. My supervisor called me right after she called the doctor and I begged her to call her back and recant. My supervisor told the doctor that I was "afraid for my life" whenever I saw the patient.

I saw the patient yesterday and she was very upset with me. I was totally blindsided! I am so upset with my company that I don't know what to do.

Opinions?

[iluvivt, BSN, RN]

I too am a home infusion specialist as my per diem job.I don't understand why your supervisor told the MD that you were afraid when in fact it is the constant cancellations that are bothering you..I probably would have talked with my patient and tried to ascertain why she was canceling at the last minute and then try to solve it that way first. For example, if she is not an early morning person and her appts were always in the morning then you can switch to an afternoon appt time.If you don't want to be the bad guy then have your supervisor talk to the patient and try to figure out what would work so the patient can keep her appt time.I too would be frustrated if this kept happening as a lot goes into getting the delivery set up,scheduling around other patients and planning your work day. I think you now know you can't trust your scheduler to keep quiet and you must handle this yourself or go straight to your supervisor for ideas on how to handle the problem without alienating your patient.

[amoLucia]

"Two people can keep a secret if one of them is dead." - Benjamin Franklin

Sorry this sucky situation happened to you. But I learned there really is no one to trust with secret information.