The ethics and laws associated with keeping a personal diary

Nurses General Nursing

Published

Who here keeps a personal diary? Of those that keep a diary how much nursing stuff gets thrown in there?

I've been keeping a diary since June and I've been kind of scared to mention too much about my working life in there because of HIPAA, but there are just so many things that I think I'd benefit from writing down in detail so I don't forget them later. I'd also want to use names so that if, god forbid, I ever had to go to court I could look up the day in my diary and use that to jog my memory. I can write things in my diary that I can't write in the notes, if you know what I mean.

But at the same time I think that it might be a huge HIPAA violation for me to have a book with tons of people's medical information and outcomes in my possession. What if this book was ever found? Could I get in trouble for it? Or would my right to privacy to keep a journal of my own personal experiences that I was directly involved in supersede somebody else's write to medical privacy?

And for the record, this question is purely academic. I've been too scared to write anything too detailed about work or clinicals in my diary.

while i agree with most of your post, there is no way i will raise my right hand and lie in court because i kept a journal that i shouldn't have done to begin with. it's a moral and ethical code of mine, shouldn't be done, don't do it and i won't have to face perjuring myself in the process. your insurance won't protect you from yourself. no journal, no issues, not worth it. i'm politely saying your giving really bad advice to lie under oath. bad advice... just never need to be in the situation is my point.

couldn't agree more. any strategy that is based on me lying is not one i'll consider.

So...our options are lie about the existence of a journal or don't keep one at all....is there no middle ground? I'd really like to have a record of my first year in nursing to look back on some day.

So...our options are lie about the existence of a journal or don't keep one at all....is there no middle ground? I'd really like to have a record of my first year in nursing to look back on some day.

You could keep a journal of your journey that doesn't include any patient data.

All really good points here. A nursing instructor of mine told me once that it was a good idea to keep a journal of nursing experiences and patients just incase you had to go to court a year or two down the road. I have a horrible memory. I always thought this sounded like a good idea. I would never write a patients name down in my journal though.

+ Add a Comment