Nurses' personal medical records

Nurses General Nursing

Published

When I become a nurse, will I still feel my own medical records are private? Starting nursing school soon. I hope other Hospital medical personnel don't just look up their co-workers medical records. How much privacy do nurses have with their personal medical history (except obviously when we are visiting the doctor ourselves for care)? This is probably a really stupid question, but I don't know. Thanks in advance for the insight.

Specializes in ER.

Your records are technically private. No one would ever admit that they looked, but they CAN take a chance and a peek. If the audits miss it there are no consequences.

If your manager has a bee in her bonnet for some reason, and the records are at your hospital...yes, some managers will look. Some occupational health nurses will give information off the record, which is just as devastating as full access to your record.

At two hospitals I worked in, if you are seen as a patient and test positive for an infectious disease a report goes to the ID department. The ID rep will then contact you and discuss alterations in your work (like masking, or taking a few days off) so you don't spread the disease to patients. There is no wall between patient records, and employee health. Personally I'd rather stay home with my diarrhea in peace, and what happens to HIV+ nurses? If standard precautions aren't acceptable for a stomach bug, then HIV must mean a quick review of your charts to find a good reason to get rid of you.

I keep all my diseases to myself, and my doc in a different hospital system. Paranoia may be in the DSM, but a little privacy prevents "misunderstandings."

Specializes in Hospice / Psych / RNAC.
Many States require that certain mental illnesses to be disclosed immediatly to the Board.

Pt safety issue.

Could you support that with a link? If you are going to put out info like that I believe you should be able to back it up.

Specializes in Education, FP, LNC, Forensics, ED, OB.
Could you support that with a link? If you are going to put out info like that I believe you should be able to back it up.

Just an example (from the Texas BON):

*Within the past five (5) years have you been diagnosed with, treated, or hospitalized for schizophrenia and/or psychotic disorder, bipolar disorder, paranoid personality disorder, antisocial personality disorder, or borderline personality disorder?

Texas Board of Nursing

Specializes in ER.

No depression? no narcissism?

I feel so left out.

Specializes in Hospice / Psych / RNAC.
Just an example (from the Texas BON):

Texas Board of Nursing

Thank you; I am so glad I live in Hawaii where people are not discriminated against for their disabilities. Hawaii is very big on that type of thing.

Mahalo

I am from texas and yes i am aware that you must disclose mental illness but it also says that medical records are confidential in the same way they would be under an investigation and mentions the occupations code....so does that mean that if they will only know if you tell them? there is no place to sign a release of medical records and i would assume that would mean that they cant look at your medical records unless you tell them they can ...and for the record I am not asking this because I have a mental illness but when I had my first child 3 and 1/2 yrs ago( 4 yrs is the disclosure limit) i developed postpartum depression (I was only 18 at the time so no surprise there) and my doctor wrongly diagnosed me with bipolar based on a family history and this doc didnt even know what a IUD was when I told him what form of birth control i was using he was trying to tell me they didnt make those anymore and then went on to prescribe an array of medications that I later learned should not have been taken in combination together. Of course a few weeks later my baby blues disappeared and I do not exhibit s/s of Bipolar however this is now on my medical records and did not feel the need to disclose if no other doctors have described me as this. I am graduating in December.

Specializes in Hospice / Psych / RNAC.

If you do not sign a medical release specifically for them to obtain the info then the only way that they would be able to know is if you tell them. ;)

I just found out from a girlfriend that when she applied for a job the other day they asked for a list of any meds she is on. Get out of here. What's next? I told her to leave it blank and if anyone questioned her just to say she isn't taking anything.

Most places will only use that type of info for untoward purposes IMO.

Also if in the future don't disclose that you went to that doc who incorrectly Dx'd you with that. You don't need his records only your current docs.

Specializes in floor to ICU.
No depression? no narcissism?

I feel so left out.

Yup, me too. No anxiety or neurosis? :D

Specializes in NICU Level III.
Thank you; I am so glad I live in Hawaii where people are not discriminated against for their disabilities. Hawaii is very big on that type of thing.

Mahalo

Yeah, I'm not a fan of living in Texas for some reasons..

Anyway, where I work, our insurance only lets us go to our network of hospitals...which have the e-records available from any of the locations. FUN. I don't trust people not looking into my records at all.

Specializes in ICU, ER, EP,.

Because all our records are now electronically based, everytime anyone logs into your private record it creates a "fingerprint" a trail to be found easily.

My daughter was in our hospital, I suspected a crappy manager to have accessed her records to fight my FMLA. I was able to request that trail, and cited several to corporate compliance for HIPA violations. You do have recourse and are assured privacy. You can't count on everyone behaving, but you do have recourse. Suspensions instead of terminations resulted per my request. It is something to consider if you have concerns.

Specializes in ICU & ED.

It is very sad, but I have witnessed nurses and other staff looking in employee's records... I even witnessed one nurse "checking up" on old boyfriends to see if their address or phone number had changed. We have a new system now, and many people were shocked to find out that you can't look up your own info with out filling out a release of information form.

When I first started working in healthcare, we would call our friends who were working to check our personal lab results for us, especially if we were worried about the test. I kind of miss that, but it's much better having everyone be protected from prying eyes... IMHO.

Specializes in Trauma Surgery, Nursing Management.

HIPAA is a wonderful thing...however it isn't always honored. I worked with a nurse who thought nothing of checking out her friend's/neighbor's/family's records. That was SOOOO wrong of her, but she never did get called to the carpet for it. That bothered me a great deal. I asked my husband about that (he works for the same hospital that I do) and he said that unless the infraction is caught on a "random audit", it will probably be missed. However, I also worked with a nurse who had a broken leg, and she was given a temp job in IT for tracking accessed records. Her response to my question regarding records was, "Big brother is DEFINITELY watching."

I prefer to get my care outside of the hospital I am working in. Separation of church and state, ya know?

+ Add a Comment