HIPAA violation

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  1. Do I have any chance of becoming a nurse?

    • 3
      No
    • 3
      Yes
    • 4
      Depends on school/program

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I'm in; or was in an LPN program in NY. During clinical, I looked at my mom's chart on the computer (she is a patient at the hospital I was having clinical) with her permission. I was dismissed from the program and the hospital security is currently deciding how to pursue this. Will I ever be able to practice nursing or anything in the medical field again? Stupid mistake, I knew better but my concerns for my mother got the best of me. Not that it matters at all but she is battling cancer. What's going to happen to me? To my future?

Hospital said they're not doing anything, it's up to the school. School isn't doing anything, I was just dismissed. Screwed up part is, after this happened, instructor had hospital IT pull everyone's history and many others have done the same. They are still in the program. How is that fair??

"Many others have done the same"? Do you mean they looked at charts of family members, or looked at charts of clients to whom they weren't assigned (and with whom they had no personal relationship)?

"Many others have done the same"? Do you mean they looked at charts of family members, or looked at charts of clients to whom they weren't assigned (and with whom they had no personal relationship)?

Both!!

Hospital said they're not doing anything, it's up to the school. School isn't doing anything, I was just dismissed. Screwed up part is, after this happened, instructor had hospital IT pull everyone's history and many others have done the same. They are still in the program. How is that fair??

Unfortunately, not much is ever fair in life. It just is. Do you get any helpful advice from the school counsellors?

There are no school counselors. This is a very small school...

Hospital said they're not doing anything, it's up to the school. School isn't doing anything, I was just dismissed. Screwed up part is, after this happened, instructor had hospital IT pull everyone's history and many others have done the same. They are still in the program. How is that fair??

How do you know that many others have done the same? Unfortunately for you, you were caught and they ma be trying to make an example out of you.

Specializes in SICU, trauma, neuro.
The OP has NOT violated HIPAA.

The patient and/or the patient's personal representative may access the patient's records. The OP's mother (the patient) gave the OP permission to access her records. The OP was the patient's personal representative. No HIPAA violation.

Your Medical Records | HHS.gov

The OP probably DID violate hospital policy and her school's policy.

The government is not going to come after the OP.

The hospital and school probably will discipline the OP for not following policy.

To access the records though, the representative would still have to go through the proper channels (HIM dept, etc.) to get them. They can't just log into the system and open the chart. I've never known a hospital to give non-employees access to the computer system, or the physical paper chart kept on the floor when requesting records. My hospital told us in no uncertain terms while in Epic training, that accessing our own chart is a firable offense.

Specializes in Cardio-Pulmonary; Med-Surg; Private Duty.
Hospital said they're not doing anything, it's up to the school. School isn't doing anything, I was just dismissed. Screwed up part is, after this happened, instructor had hospital IT pull everyone's history and many others have done the same. They are still in the program. How is that fair??

And you know this HOW??? The school itself told you this?

The rumor mill is amazing in nursing school. Don't allow yourself to be its victim.

Get the facts, and only the facts, from a reputable and verifiable source.

Specializes in Complex pedi to LTC/SA & now a manager.
Hospital said they're not doing anything, it's up to the school. School isn't doing anything, I was just dismissed. Screwed up part is, after this happened, instructor had hospital IT pull everyone's history and many others have done the same. They are still in the program. How is that fair??

It's irrelevant you were caught and dismissed from the program. Life isn't fair. Unless you have first hand knowledge and irrefutable evidence that other students accessed the medical records of family members not directly under their care it does not matter. Moving forward you will likely have to explain why you were dismissed so close to graduation if you attempt to enter another nursing program or school of higher learning and have high risk of rejection. Nearly every program asks if you were dismissed from any other program. If you used financial aid this will affect you in the future as you generally are only permitted to access financial aid for up to 150% of the credits or less (so a 60-credit associates you hit maximum eligibility at max 90 credits, 120 credit bachelor's maximum eligibility is max 180 credit hours)

You need to regroup, recover, and decide your pathway to the future. Only you can determine if applying to another nursing program is worthwhile or if you need to find a different career path. Seek academic and career counseling advisement if needed.

Most respectable nursing programs are v. reluctant to take students who previously failed out of a nursing program, and they thoroughly investigate before they take a chance on someone in those circumstances. If the OP does what you suggest and a school finds out (which they are likely to do), that will be much more damaging than just being honest about the situation in the first place (including being able to discuss what she's learned from the experience and what will be different going forward).

It's always disheartening to me how many people on this site encourage others to be deceptive (or just blatantly lie) in their education or nursing practice.

While I appreciate the educational aspect of this thread, I don't appreciate the lack of mercy, grace, or simple compassion. One person running for President is being investigated for breaking a number of federal laws; chances are high she will not see any punishment given the justice department gave ~$75K towards her campaign. I see more mercy and compassion shown in the recovery-based threads than in threads like this one. Talk about nurses eating their young before even becoming nurses.

P.S. To BuckyBadgerRN, RN with the comment of "Oh, I'll bet it WAS made very clear...," Until someone is in someone's shoes and in the situation, none of us know. Not me, not you. And I know I learned new things from this thread that WERE NOT taught in any of my classes to date (3 semesters down). So while I'm glad to have found out some of this before I made a mistake in this area, don't assume things are black and white when it comes to what is taught in different schools, hospitals, and clinicals. And please consider showing compassion.

seriously, this. I don't expect to see any non-rude comments from that poster. OP don't take those comments to heart. Listen to the people who are trying to just Be honest. You are not stupid, you shouldn't be so hard on yourself. Yes you made a big mistake and could very well be the end result and outcome of your career. But I hope not. I feel for you. You are vulnerable, your mom is ill. We are capable of making rash decisions when we're scared/upset/in shock/grieving etc.

that doesn't legally excuse your actions but I understand, morally, why you did it.

I hope and pray that your situation could be shown mercy and grace like others have said. This is devastating and I am so sorry! Xoxo

Most respectable nursing programs are v. reluctant to take students who previously failed out of a nursing program, and they thoroughly investigate before they take a chance on someone in those circumstances. If the OP does what you suggest and a school finds out (which they are likely to do), that will be much more damaging than just being honest about the situation in the first place (including being able to discuss what she's learned from the experience and what will be different going forward).

It's always disheartening to me how many people on this site encourage others to be deceptive (or just blatantly lie) in their education or nursing practice.

OP- this is good input. I do encourage you to keep applying ad see what happens- although nothing is promised. Be honest. You have circumstances which I hope could be understood that this was an isolated incident and will never happen again. But like I said its not promised or garaunteed that any school will allow you to participate in another nursing program. But applying to others schools with no expectations may just give you some peace of mind that you did all you could and you gave it your all to fix things. And even if it doesn't change anything you may find another career path while applying to other schools. All you can do is be honest, learn from your mistake, and move on. I wish you all the best

Specializes in ER.

We just had an issue where a nurse was caught looking at a chart. Epic locks the chart when you look in certain areas so she locked us out of it.

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