Cell Phone Photos

EmmaG, RN · Jan 31, 2008

Patients sign consents for those photos you see in the charts (read your hospital's consent for treatment or surgery consents). I seriously doubt that includes consent for staff to take photos for their own personal use.

She is indeed playing with fire. And she's been warned.

BTW:

https://allnurses.com/forums/f195/surgeon-snaps-pic-pt-s-tattooed-genitals-shows-other-doctors-268839.html

nurseby07 · Jan 31, 2008

Patients sign consents for those photos you see in the charts (read your hospital's consent for treatment or surgery consents). I seriously doubt that includes consent for staff to take photos for their own personal use.
She is indeed playing with fire. And she's been warned.
BTW:
https://allnurses.com/forums/f195/surgeon-snaps-pic-pt-s-tattooed-genitals-shows-other-doctors-268839.html

Ah yes!! That article, I forgot! I would say something but she is also our charge nurse who has been there forever, and I am a "newbie".

EmmaG, RN · Jan 31, 2008

Ah yes!! That article, I forgot! I would say something but she is also our charge nurse who has been there forever, and I am a "newbie".

Regardless of how long she's been around, wrong is wrong.

Your hospital's risk management and legal department would have a kitten if they knew what this person was doing.

My advice is you make a call to your hospital's corporate compliance hotline. You don't have to give your name since you're concerned about possible reprisals (her being your supervisor).

cardiacRN2006, ADN, RN · Jan 31, 2008

This is exactly what the corportate copliance hotline is there for...

Plus, you will feel better after you call. Can you imagine if a family member walked up to the nurse when she was doing this?

EricJRN, MSN, RN · Jan 31, 2008

Yes, that's a common misconception - people think that a name is required to establish a HIPAA violation. It isn't. One of the keys to determining 'violation or no violation' is whether or not the patient is individually identifiable. Doesn't sound like this person is open to feedback from staff nurses on the issue, but just know that you're right to notify administration or the compliance hotline.

Photos, names, addresses, and other details can each cause health information to fall into the individually identifiable category. When HIPAA went into effect, our EMS agency even changed some of its dispatch procedures because anyone with a scanner could gain access to age, gender, address, complaint, and pertinent past history. In reality, we should have been limiting this stuff long before that, just based on common sense and courtesy... but sometimes we just don't ever stop and think things through until forced to do so.

EmmaG, RN · Jan 31, 2008

HIPAA also doesn't preclude any liability under state law protecting patient privacy.

The Texas Medical Privacy Act is an example of a state law that provides more protection for patient privacy than is provided under HIPAA. The Act adopts the basic tenets of the HIPAA Privacy Standards and provides additional protections for Texans in some areas where HIPAA has left gaps. HIPAA sets a floor of ground rules for health care providers, health plans, and health care clearinghouses to follow, in order to protect patients and encourage them to seek needed care. It creates a framework of protection that can be strengthened by both the federal government and by states as health information systems continue to evolve. 65 Fed. Reg. at 82,464. HIPAA's provisions allow existing state laws that are more protective of privacy to stand, and permit states to make more protective laws in the future. 45 C.F.R. 160.203(b)

pheobes718 · Feb 2, 2008

Dude, that's definitely a breach of confidentiality; be wary of these nurses, and keep your name clean :up: