Unit Secretary tells me she regularly snoops electronically

[FireStarterRN]

The other day we had heard that we were getting an admit, a chest pain rule out. Then it didn't materialize, it turned out the patient was going to be transfered to a larger hospital. I said that I wonder what happened.

So the unit secretary pops on the computer and said, "Let's find out with my usual eavesdropping". I said, "Do we really have a need to know?" and she answered that she snooped all the time. I told her that her activities could be tracked, since she's logged in. She said that they've never said anything to her thus far.

What should I do? I don't want to rat on the unit secretary, but I do think that people should refrain from prying into things that don't concerned them, ala HIPAA. Our hospital is a small community hospital and so it heightens the risk of invading privacy since many people know one another.

[bagladyrn, RN]

I'll contact the HIPAA person, and I'll also mention it to the Unit Secretary next time I see her that she needs to refrain from looking up information. Thanks!

You definitely should report this, both for the legal reasons and also because when this person is caught, a person who would tell you she does this would very likely be the type who would try to justify herself by saying "Well, jlsRN knew I did it and she never said anything". Then you would be right in the stew with her!

[Indy, LPN, LVN]

Our computer has got alerts that let you know if a record will be audited; beyond that you have to just assume that someone's watching and behave yourself.

One habit that people just don't seem to get out of (nurses, unit secretaries, what have ya) is the "look to see how many are in the ER and what dx's look likely to be admitted to us" thing. Which would not be a big deal except that by name alone you might recognize patients and then, you've seen info that you might not need to know.

So our computer doesn't alert you at that point. You can scroll up and down the list of ER visits BUT it's when you go to look at something else that it pops up and says "hey you. Do you need to know this?" And it does that IF the triage sec puts in a VIP status on the chart.

I've taken to looking at that "who's in the ER" AFTER I get report and that way I know I've got the right to the labs, etc. When I had an ER visit last year, I purposely went to the hospital that I did NOT work for prior to that time, as I didn't want my old coworkers saying "hey look who's here."

[rph3664]

i can't help but struggle w/the contents of your post. definitely rubbing me the wrong way.

leslie

why? my sister's friends learned their lesson about why they shouldn't be nosy because they had discovered things their friends and acquaintances hadn't shared with them, and they stopped doing it.

i would not have mentioned the ivf thing if it hadn't been splashed all over the press. if you really want to know who it was that badly, good grief, pm me.

as for me calling movie stars, that was part of my job. most sag people are not famous, but a few are and yes, i did have access to their home information but neither i nor anyone else there used it nor would we have wanted to.

earle58, have you seen the details some other people post about patients, especially on the er and ob forums? i've cringed more than once because it was sufficient to identify the people and then some.

[rph3664]

I was going to add this but had to leave so I didn't.

My sister's co-workers learned their lesson about why medical records are private.

And our brother has never worked in health care, but he was once employed at a mutual funds company, and some people there were typing in the names of famous people, or even people they knew, to see if anything showed up. That's not right either.

Does anyone remember that big fiasco at the IRA a few years back when Elizabeth Taylor's 1040 was Xeroxed and passed around? Lots of people got in trouble for that and IIRC, the main perpetrator went to jail.

[rph3664]

I meant IRS. Oops.

I've said this elsewhere, but my dad sometimes asks me if there are any interesting patients in the hospital. I always tell him, "Sure! Can't tell you about them, however."

[FireStarterRN, BSN, RN]

I sent this email to the HIPAA person:

Dear So and So,

I heard that you are in charge of HIPAA. I think things are too loose at (our hospital) and we need some reminders, especially regarding electronic snooping. We shouldn't be viewing patient records other than the ones we are caring for, correct? I think a general reminder would be in order, as well as auditing charts to see who has viewed them.

Sincerely, JLSRN

She emailed me back that she does put out general reminders about HIPAA, but she thought the chart auditing would be a good idea and will put together something. I responded that the threat of a chart audit will definately help keep people honest.

[RN BSN 2009]

look what they did to those who were looking at britney's medical records... keerrplunk

[Ms Kylee]

Not to mention what happened to those who looked up George Clooney's records after his motorcycle accident....

[blueheaven]

You could report it to whoever does your IT in your facility also. I just received a verbal reprimand for getting into a staff members chart. I didn't do it, but forgot and left my computer logged on and someone else did it under my account. So always secure your station!!

[GingerSue]

just reviewed our Code of Ethics:

in the section about "Confidentiality": "Nurses must intervene if other participants in the health care delivery system fail to maintain their duty of confidentiality."