HIPAA Violation?

[Elven_RN, ASN, RN]

So one of my biggest fears as a nursing student (and future nurse) is violating HIPAA.

I read through a lot of the HIPAA laws and the 18 identifiers, but I still have unanswered questions regarding what constitutes as a violation and something from my last clinical day has been bothering me.

On my last day at clinical, the nurse was telling me and another student a really interesting case and told us who it was about (it was a previous admission, they came in that day but were only there for a meeting). It was such an amazing story that I told my husband about it, and of course no names were mentioned.

However, just yesterday the very story ended up published in the news, including the name of the hospital where the patient was transported. The odds of that the just the day after I was privy to that...so crazy.

I know that there is a HIPAA law that says something about not talking about details that could point out who the patient is even though no names were used. Since this story ended up in the news, does that mean I leaked identifiable information? I'm not worried that it would go anywhere since I just talked to my husband (and it's not like he would even know who the patient was anyway), but I'm worried that I might have violated a law which makes me feel guilty.

Thanks in advance! Still a lot I really need to understand/scares me before I become an RN!

[TheDudeWithTheBigDog, ADN, RN]

So one of my biggest fears as a nursing student (and future nurse) is violating HIPAA.

I read through a lot of the HIPAA laws and the 18 identifiers, but I still have unanswered questions regarding what constitutes as a violation and something from my last clinical day has been bothering me.

On my last day at clinical, the nurse was telling me and another student a really interesting case and told us who it was about (it was a previous admission, they came in that day but were only there for a meeting). It was such an amazing story that I told my husband about it, and of course no names were mentioned.

However, just yesterday the very story ended up published in the news, including the name of the hospital where the patient was transported. The odds of that the just the day after I was privy to that...so crazy.

I know that there is a HIPAA law that says something about not talking about details that could point out who the patient is even though no names were used. Since this story ended up in the news, does that mean I leaked identifiable information? I'm not worried that it would go anywhere since I just talked to my husband (and it's not like he would even know who the patient was anyway), but I'm worried that I might have violated a law which makes me feel guilty.

Thanks in advance! Still a lot I really need to understand/scares me before I become an RN!

Probably 99% of healthcare workers tell their family about their patients.

It almost definitely ended up in the newspaper because of the patient giving the information.

Calm down.

[ruby_jane, BSN, RN]

So one of my biggest fears as a nursing student (and future nurse) is violating HIPAA.

I read through a lot of the HIPAA laws and the 18 identifiers, but I still have unanswered questions regarding what constitutes as a violation and something from my last clinical day has been bothering me.

On my last day at clinical, the nurse was telling me and another student a really interesting case and told us who it was about (it was a previous admission, they came in that day but were only there for a meeting). It was such an amazing story that I told my husband about it, and of course no names were mentioned.

However, just yesterday the very story ended up published in the news, including the name of the hospital where the patient was transported. The odds of that the just the day after I was privy to that...so crazy.

I know that there is a HIPAA law that says something about not talking about details that could point out who the patient is even though no names were used. Since this story ended up in the news, does that mean I leaked identifiable information? I'm not worried that it would go anywhere since I just talked to my husband (and it's not like he would even know who the patient was anyway), but I'm worried that I might have violated a law which makes me feel guilty.

Thanks in advance! Still a lot I really need to understand/scares me before I become an RN!

It's pretty hard to violate HIPAA. First, your husband is not a covered entity; if you felt like you did something that was on the border then don't do it again.

Don't give details that identify patients; don't look up charts where you don't have a reason to (like curiosity, I wanted to see how they were doing, it was my cousin's ex best friend's wife); and do not post ANYTHING to your social about work. There will be people who disagree with me on the third point. I guess "hashtagblessed I work with great people" is good.

Believe me....you'll have a lot more monsters coming at you. Don't worry about this one.