I maybe in trouble, HIPPA Violation

[ms.amy03]

It might be easier to discuss what I know about HIPPA. I am a nursing student to begin with. From what I've learned is that sharing patient information with those who are not directly involved with that patient's care is wrong. Talking about the patient even when there is no mention with names or any way to identify the patient is even wrong whether it be in an elevator or any other place.

My infraction:

In this world we now share our thoughts and beliefs with the online world, Facebook is something that so many people utilize now to stay in touch with friends and family. Unfortunately I made a posting about my experience that day in the healtch care setting. I spoked about how I got to see preocedures and aid in it, how I felt about it, the way I smelt after wards. I wrote all of that unknowingly that I was violating HIPPA because I had not mentioned names, I wasn't speaking about any specific patients it was gross because I had talked about smelling like lady parts and onions(the onions coming from my sandwhich really not the patient), I didn't mention where I was working at they were strictly reflections of my experience. The content of it was inappropriately gross but I didnt' feel like there was a violation that I had comitted. In essence it was offensive to some people and it came near the line of violating HIPPA, one of my class mates had reported me to my program coordinator and I am having to write a paper for him citing how I will correct myself and what interventions I plan on doing. My coordinator also told me that there will be a punishment that I will learn later in few days before lecture. He will discuss his interview with me to other people to decide what the punishment will be, I'm scared of being thrown out of the program or worse, delaying or not allowing me to graduate or sit for the NCLEX. I'm scared of not being able to graduate and delaying my time. What could happen to me?

[springchick1, ADN, RN]

What did you ever hear from your school?

[SionainnRN]

In today's world everything you do online is a reflection of your school and/or work. If you have them listed on your profile EVERYTHING you do is now linked to them. Have revealing pics? Fired for morality claus. Talk about going out for drinks with friends and the next morning post about going to work? Someone could assume you came to work impaired because of drinking or lack of sleep. You must be very very very careful of what you post, even if you have your privacy settings on lock down. I've been burned before.

[OCNRN63, RN]

Sun408,

Thank you for your response. If I didn't make myself clear, I did have the meeting with him already and he told me at the end of the meeting that there will be a punishment he doens't know what it is but he will let me know in a few days after discussing the matter with other people or maybe the BON.

I did own up the unprofessional posting, I removed it immediately after my classmate called me and told me that students were talking about me. I didn't realize what I had done and that even the content of what I wrote, regardless if it did not mention patient identification is still a big slap on the hand and it's not right. I got too comfortable with writing and saying whatever was on my mind, realizing my entire world was on display classmates and friends/family. I didn't conduct myself professionally. I also didn't 100% understand the rules and terms of HIPAA and being ethical as a nurse....even though I thought it was ok to share what I wanted without revealing information. I apologized for embarassing myself and the school, and I appreciate the corrections he's working with me. I just want to keep doing what I"m doing and enjoy it still being within limits. People talk too much in this world and they interpret things very differently I should've not been so naive and stupid.

Thank you thoughfor the support.

I think the fact that you acknowledge that what you did was not professional and that you are humble and open to discipline speaks highly of your maturity. I hope that your school's administrators take that into account when they decide on your corrective action.

[OCNRN63, RN]

Good day:

Facebook may be implementing forced GPS location to its posts; where your geographic location may be included in each post without regard to whether you want such information published.

In those cases, using FB at work or in school can cause more trouble than any value gained.

Thank you.

Creepy. Almost like Spokeo..

[MikeyBSN]

If your post includes everything you posted on FB, then it is not a HIPAA violation. There are no patient identifiers, no name of the facility, and no PHI. You may have broken some school policy, but you did not violate HIPAA, and probably did not violate any BON regulation or state law (though it is impossible to know this for sure without knowing what state you are in).

Nurses get so worked up about HIPAA. It is true that a HIPAA violation can get you fired, in trouble with the board or even slapped with a civil suit (though not for violating HIPAA itself). Nurses cannot, however, be punished by the feds for violating HIPAA/HITECH, at least not in my estimation. I do no see how HIPAA applies to the run of the mill staff nurse. Nurses should be more worried about protecting patient confidentiality as a part of the profession then a scary acronym created by the feds.

[edmia, BSN, RN]

I'm not trying to kick you when your down, but you just posted this again, but on a public forum, with your first name and your picture visible. Remember that things said on the internet can follow you, I know from personal experience. If I were you, I'd consider deleting your pictures, changing your user name and editing the opening message. Pretty much every nurse reads allnurses, so surely your classmates and possible teachers do too.

I hope everything works out for you. Everyone makes mistakes, point is we learn from them.

Exactly! That was the first thing I noticed when I saw the OP: name and picture on a completely open, searchable, site.

I hope you didn't get kicked out, but you really need to do a lot of learning about technology and media.

I do think today's generations are being set up to fail in this aspect because they do not know a world without social media. They don't really understand the impact of an online trail. I made sure to teach my kids about it because there's no way to avoid being social online. The rules will fall into place eventually, but until then, we have to be extra careful with our public postings.

Sent from my iPhone using allnurses.com

[rumwynnieRN]

You'd be surprised how not having a facebook will save you a world of trouble. I deleted it in the middle of nursing school because it was too distracting, and after some of the BS that happened in nursing school that I didn't know about until significantly AFTER the event(s), it made getting along with people much easier. It also meant I wasn't on my phone 24/7 checking facebook posts.

I wouldn't have been put off by the post, but what everyone else said. Either delete your facebook, or don't post anything clinical related. It might've been easier to keep things super personal if facebook hadn't gotten as big as it is now (though there's always the chance of anything coming out), but those days are long gone.

[Philly_LPN_Girl, LPN]

I just want to say thank you for the responses all of you. I am very worried about myself. I do have a heart, a great big heart and I love being with people and caring for them, I never want to hurt anyone and I've done that untentionally. I should take extra precautions now and rethink about who I want to add to my social network.[/quote']

That was very unprofessional regardless if you mentioned names or not BUT, I dont feel like your classmate(s) should have just tokd on you, they could have pulled you to the side and explain why and what was wrong with your post and tell you the consequences. Classmates should stick together not go against one another. Well I am glad that you took full respobsibility and didnt make up any excuses, I hope that your punishment isnt severe hun good luck :)

[Philly_LPN_Girl, LPN]

Although I watch what I say on my social media and dont really put personal things up, that is one of the reasons why I dont have many classmates on my social media, a girl got in trouble in my class for lying about why she didnt come to clinicals and having the truth on her status, I dont trust anyone even if we are cool.

[turnforthenurse, MSN, NP]

This is exactly why I do not post about my day at work on Facebook or other social media sites. Even with the maximum privacy settings you would be surprised on what your program, classmates and employers can see. I have a friend who was not friends with any of her coworkers on Facebook and she posted about her day. It was very generic and no patient identifiers were used...she ended up being called into her manager's office and they talked about this Facebook post. It was just a warning, but it shows you that Big Brother is watching, so be careful with what you post.

[NicuGal, MSN, RN]

Always think...would I want this on a billboard? Because when you post something on the Internet that is exactly what you are doing.

[Comis]

Ultimately, you have to remember that people can figure things out. It doesn't take a Sherlock Holmes style genius; it really doesn't. It may be true that you didn't post anything that was specifically "personally identifiable information", but it's also still true that anyone who can read your posts on Facebook and knows where you work could infer "personally identifiable information" about the people you saw that day.

Even if you're not subject to technical HIPAA violations, you may be violating the spirit (and intent) of the law by giving away information about people, even when you don't mean to. And that information can hurt people. The upshot is that you should not ever post about personal experiences in healthcare on any part of the internet, ever.

Amy, I am pretty sure that you are a great nurse. It's also probably true that nobody's privacy was actually compromised by your Facebook post. We both also need to recognize that someone's privacy (or even safety) absolutely could have been hurt by your post, and might be, next time. And that is important.

I hope that you are okay, and that you keep your job, because I believe that you are good at what you do and that you care about people's privacy. I also hope that you understand why you are in trouble right now, and why that is important.