CPT/NA needing HIPPA advice

[Dtm2016]

I am not a nurse but a nurse assistant. I am a certified phlebotomist and MLT. I was recently moved to a nursing position as an NA. I don't know all of the HIPPA guidelines fully and I feel that I may have violated it. My fellow employee, we'll call her Jane, is also a patient where we work. We are friends with another employee, we'll say Jenny,but she is in a different department. We are all friends outside of work and know each other's personal issues. Jane has been having personal issues outside of work that have carried over to work, as in getting behind on things and being very distracted. she left Work early one day and the next thing we know, she won't be back for weeks. I texted jenny if she had talked to Jane because she left Work suddenly and was worried about her. NO medical information was said AT ALL about Jane. As I said we know her personal issues and did NOT talk about medical ones.

[JKL33]

No, the fact that a coworker left work early is not HIPAA information, although the better action would've been to reach out to Jane directly since she is also your friend. Also realize that gossiping outside of work about employees and what goes on at work would probably not be looked upon very favorably by your employer if they were to find out (by means of a complaint or by anything posted on social media, for example).

[JustBeachyNurse, LPN]

Gossip. Not a HIPAA violation