Breach of HIPAA to look up one's own medical records at work??

[sapphire18]

Just wondering what the rationale for this rule is- we are not allowed to enter the chart of any patient unless it is for patient care- which of course makes sense. However we were told that this includes our own charts. I can understand management not wanting us to be using company time for personal things, but they say that a consequence of looking at our own medical record can include termination, which I don't understand if we can request access to our chart via the medical records department anyway? Any thoughts?

[Double-Helix, BSN, RN]

I'm not sure if this has been said, because I didn't read all the replies, but:

You cannot look up your own medical record because the hospital cannot guarantee that the record will remain secure. What if you looked in your record and found something that was inaccurate, or that you didn't agree with, such as: "Patient is non-compliant with diet regimen." Maybe you were given a psychiatric diagnosis you don't agree with. Would you feel like you needed to change that, if you could?

While you might not, others might want to change their medical record if they could. So by allowing you to look up your own medical record, the record does not remain secure. It's the same reason why when a patient wants to read their chart, a member of the medical records department has to sit with them to make sure that nothing is edited or removed. If you want to see your medical record you have to request a copy, not the original, so that it cannot be changed.