Phone calls & families <sigh>

[nyteshade]

It never ceases to amaze me how "families" call the nurses station and either 1. demand info or 2. politely request info on a patient (and then get mad when I refuse them).

Honestly, you wouldn't call up say, a hotel and say tell me about Mr X staying there...you'd probably get a dial tone.

Case in point, last night a family member calls and automatically assumes that whoever is answering the phone (me) knows about every single patient in the hospital, and wants an "update on her father's status" (someone didn't take their common sense pills this morning!)

She proceeds to go on about her day, her struggles (hey I got a lady trying to jump out of bed, but do you care?), until I politely stop her, and say, "I cannot give you any information, however, you can call your father directly" You can guess the rest...(sigh)

[livinthedreamRN]

That is 190% not true.

ALL nurses are fully aware of HIPAA (not HIPPA), because I don't know of a hospital that didn't put all of their staff through HIPAA training when the new law came out, considering you can be fined up to $50K PER VIOLATION and go to prison (yes, prison) if the violation was bad enough, up to a maximum of one year.

HIPAA is asked about on State Boards, taught in nursing school and every patient is given a copy of the privacy policy upon admission.

If someone is working in healthcare and have never heard of HIPAA and don't know how it works, they need to be working in another profession.

Where do you get that you can update the family and friends on anything? By what authority do you pick and choose who gets information and who doesn't without the patient's permission, or do you just give it to anyone who is sober enough to pick up the phone and call and ask?

Seriously...I am very, very surprised that you haven't landed in hot water at your job, because I have personally known of two nurses on my unit that have been fired for HIPAA violations.

We have even been told that we cannot even go and visit neighbors, etc that are admitted to the hospital unless we have been personally notified by them, not because we just happen to come across their information and know they are admitted.

It's a REALLY big deal.

HampsterRN did state "with permission".

[Zaphod, BSN, RN]

Just last week

Hi, this is Dr.Blah-blah, how is patient M. doing

hmmm, are you a doctor on his case?

No, she is my neighbor..

[HamsterRN, ADN, RN]

excuse me? what is "hippa?"

i'm familiar with hipaa. but our facility teaches that we cannot even aknowledge that we know someone unless the caller is on the list of patient contacts.

we're supposed to say, and i quote: "i'm sorry, sir (or madam). i have no information on a party by that name."

hipaa is fairly clear that you can disclose a patient is at your facility, unless the patient requests "do not announce" status.

disclosures to friends and family

[*ac*]

What really KILLS me is when the caller is angry because they claim they've been calling every day and getting info from the nurse.

[HamsterRN, ADN, RN]

That is 190% not true.

ALL nurses are fully aware of HIPAA (not HIPPA), because I don't know of a hospital that didn't put all of their staff through HIPAA training when the new law came out, considering you can be fined up to $50K PER VIOLATION and go to prison (yes, prison) if the violation was bad enough, up to a maximum of one year.

HIPAA is asked about on State Boards, taught in nursing school and every patient is given a copy of the privacy policy upon admission.

If someone is working in healthcare and have never heard of HIPAA and don't know how it works, they need to be working in another profession.

Where do you get that you can update the family and friends on anything? By what authority do you pick and choose who gets information and who doesn't without the patient's permission, or do you just give it to anyone who is sober enough to pick up the phone and call and ask?

Seriously...I am very, very surprised that you haven't landed in hot water at your job, because I have personally known of two nurses on my unit that have been fired for HIPAA violations.

We have even been told that we cannot even go and visit neighbors, etc that are admitted to the hospital unless we have been personally notified by them, not because we just happen to come across their information and know they are admitted.

It's a REALLY big deal.

Yes, HIPAA is a really big deal, which is why we need to understand it, not misinterpret it in the most conservative way possible.

HIPAA does not prevent us from involving family and friends, it only sets guidelines, here are some helpful answers:

Disclosures to Friends and Family

[Caffeine_IV]

I have no problem giving information and updates when protocol is followed. We also use the codewords/passwords on our unit.

If a patient doesn't have a codeword and they are awake..I will offer to transfer them into the room. If the person declines to be transferred, I will presume they were just being nosy and not really concerned about my patient.