hey fellow nurses, here is my story. i was working a 16 hr shift at a small rural er. well, the first half of the shift (3-11) i work ed with one other nurse. this nurse had some health problems, 52 years old and a very likable person. well, we had a good evening together she felt and acted like usual. at 2300 she clocked out, felt and looked fine. we finalized our plans for potlock tomarrow. well, at 2345 ems brings her in after she collapsed at a local store. when ems pulled up i went out to the rig and helped unload the patient. sure enough, i recognized the stethascope she has and looked at the face and sure enough....guess who, but my fellow co-worker. well, after a work up we transfered her to the trauma center and i called for follow up to see how she was, i mean she is like family and the nurse taking care of her kind of gave me a brief report until the supervisor caught on and then informed me of hippa. trust me, i think hippa has its time and place, however, i think we should get a follow up on the pt's status....am i wrong for thinking this??
turns out the daughters called up and told us she passed and asked us to tell her "2nd shift family" can i legally do that since that also would be against hippa!!!
in such a small community where we all close like family, where is the line? and did i cross it?
