Breach of patient confidentiality?

[chelleshocked]

Hello all,

I am a prenursing student.

I have a friend who is seperated from her husband currently. She is not divorced yet, but her husband is living with his pregnant girlfriend.

Here is my question. The pregnant girlfriend's mother, who lives in a completely different city, has accessed my friend's daughter's shot record. My friend's daughter is about to start kindergarten. The girlfriend's mother is a school nurse in a different city. If you are familiar with Texas, the mother (my friend) lives in Fort Worth, and the person who looked up the child's shot record lives in Big Spring. There was no reason for this school nurse to look up my friend's daughters shot record. The child will not be attending that school. We don't even know this woman's name. All we know is my friend went to her husband's house to pick up her daughter a few days ago, and he told her that the school nurse (pregnant girlfriend's mother) looked up her shot record and informed them that she needs 3 shots before school starts.

My opinion is, this is a breach of patient confidentiality, because the school nurse has no direct contact with or need to know basis to access this record.

What is your opinion, and is there anything that my friend can do? She is quite upset about the whole thing.

Thanks for any/all advice!

Chelle

[sjt9721, BSN, RN]

how did this woman access the shot record? and if it's already on file with fort worth isd, then how was someone in big spring able to access it?

your friend should file a complaint with the big spring isd. and if she thinks that fort worth released it to the nosy-nurse, then file a complaint with fwisd, too.

[color=#f0aa21]big spring independent school district

708 11th place ~ big spring, texas 79720

[phone] ~ fax: [phone]

fort worth isd:

817-871-2000

100 north university drive

fort worth, texas 76107-1360

[Jolie, BSN]

The nurse's actions were inappropriate and out of line.

However, they don't amount to a HIPAA violation, simply because HIPAA doesn't apply to school records.

The privacy law related to school records is FERPA, which I'm not knowledgable about.

Perhaps you could "Google" FERPA and determine whether her actions consitute a violation.

On a side note, I sincerely hope that the "grown-ups" in this situation will begin to act as such and spare this young child the pain of an ugly divorce.

[GrumpyRN63, ADN, RN]

I would like to know who gave her the access, especially if it is in a different city?? Nevermind it is absolutely no business of hers in regards to her daughter's boyfriend's daughter ???? WTH, I don't know if there is any recourse, but I would certaintly let the mother know how I felt!!! Where did she get the info, from the school she is registered with, I 'm pretty sure that would be a paper file and someone let her see it, the other thought is the ped?? How would that happen, and why should she even care, very bizarre to me

[nrsang97, BSN, RN]

She was completely out of line. File a complaint. She isn't going to be her school nurse, so on need to access what vaccines the child is due for.

[ilstu99]

Report the incident.

I can't even look up my own husband's or kids' records at the hospital I work in...let alone someone else's. Anything online is open for any related employee with a user name and password. The good news is that it should also be traceable.

[RN1982]

She should have minded her own business. It wasn't her place to look up shot records. I would file a complaint definately. But I would also be in the office of every person who had some type of authority over that nurse and would be pitching a fit. I would also report her to the BON.

[chelleshocked]

Hello again,

Let me provide a little more information. The school nurses throughout the state of Texas are able to access student shot records through a registry system that the parent consents to when their child begins taking their shots, while the child is an infant. This is a link to the registry information http://www.dshs.state.tx.us/immunize/immtrac/default.shtm I would think this would be protected under HIPPA, simply because it is a medical record and the nurse should only be accessing it on a need to know basis. The student is not in that school district, so I assume this school nurse has no need to know. The main problem is that we do not know this woman's name, but I am sure the vaccine registry would have a record of who has accessed this information.

I appreciate all of the replies. We are trying to decide what/if she can do anything.

Thanks again!

Chelle:heartbeat

[rn/writer, RN]

Don't know about the FERPA policy mentioned by Jolie, but I do want to point out that unfair as it might seem, your friend's husband can give permission for another person to access their daughter's information.

It might be wise for your friend to consult an attorney about custody and placement issues so she has some idea of what to ask for and where to try to set limits.

I wish that child the best.

[chelleshocked]

I found more information on this website.. It is protected by law. The question is, what can we do about it?

Who has access to the information?

Your privacy is protected. Your child's immunization information is available only to persons authorized by law to see it. Only doctors, schools, childcare centers, and public health providers with ImmTrac-issued identification numbers and passwords may view the information.

[chelleshocked]

Don't know about the FERPA policy mentioned by Jolie, but I do want to point out that unfair as it might seem, your friend's husband can give permission for another person to access their daughter's information.

It might be wise for your friend to consult an attorney about custody and placement issues so she has some idea of what to ask for and where to try to set limits.

I wish that child the best.

Thank you for this reply. The problem is, he told her that the mother accessed this information before speaking to anyone (I assume it was the girlfriend's idea) This is how I understood it as going down. He said, "she was just trying to do us a favor."

I understand that this has not harmed the child in any way. I just kind of equating it to this: when I worked in the pharmacy at a local hospital, and my friend comes in to the ER, I can't just log in to the system to see how my friend is doing and what is wrong with them. It is none of my business. Just as I felt this child's shot record was none of this school nurse's business.

Thanks for all of the thoughtful replies. I am going to send a link to this forum to the my friend so she can make her decision from there

Chelle

[ilstu99]

Don't know about the FERPA policy mentioned by Jolie, but I do want to point out that unfair as it might seem, your friend's husband can give permission for another person to access their daughter's information.

It might be wise for your friend to consult an attorney about custody and placement issues so she has some idea of what to ask for and where to try to set limits.

I wish that child the best.

He'd have to sign a written release, though, at the very least. Even if he did, if the child doesn't attend the RN's school, there's no reason for her to access the child's information. I don't believe there's any privilege allowed in HIPAA for perks of the job.

A friend/relative of mine might give me written/legal permission to have that information, but that doesn't mean I can violate my institutes's policy regarding the same. Having access to that info doesn't mean I can or should look it up.