I am a 2nd yr nursing student, I graduate in May. I had an OR observation
yesterday and was able to watch an endo lap chole. I may add that I was very
excited as my goal is to become an OR nurse.
When the gallbladder became visible on the monitor I took a picture of it with
my cell phone. The picture only included the endo monitor with NO identifiable
info on it. Is this a HIPPA violation? I was excited and didn't think anything
about taking a pic of the gallbladder on the monitor. The nurse seen me take
the picture and immediately told me that was not allowed and that I needed to
delete the picture, which I did.
Upon returning to the floor my clinical instructor had received a phone call from the hospitals edu department letting her know that they need to see me and to bring my phone. I went and explained what had happened, show them my phone to prove that the pic had in fact been deleted and I was told that was okay, I' not in trouble.
Today I get an email from the Head of Nursing at my school saying that I need
to come in and see her in the morning before I go to class. Can I be kicked out
of the program for this? She stated in the email that it was a HIPPA violation
but everything I can find states that it's not a violation as long as there is
not any identifiable information related to the patient.
Does anyone have any suggestions and/or advice about this situation or how to
handle my meeting at school tomorrow morning? Any information or suggestions
would be greatly appreciated . . . I did not mean any harm; I was just excited
