HIPAA question

morte, LPN, LVN · Dec 9, 2008

it would seem you are correct...perhaps she has violated an institutional policy, put in place to avoid HIPAA violations......and not HIPAA itself....was her reason simply to make quicker work of note taking?

mchavez15 · Dec 9, 2008

I agree, for medic class our teacher told us that to save having to write another report we can just make a copy of it, as long as it has no pt information. I don't think theres much difference from taking a picture.

achot chavi · Dec 9, 2008

Not an expert, but in situations like this, I would consult a local expert and get it over with, maybe the student union can help her, if you google "student unions" in your state- maybe she can get a local union to advise her.

Can she approach the patient and get his or her written permission?

I used to xerox papers (no personal info on them) for school purposes as well and no one said anything- but I didn't submit them with my work...

How DID the school find out?

Tolos · Dec 9, 2008

As a student we were allowed to make copies of chart without patient information, shredding it as we leave clinical area. Anything to do with the chart and information in it photocopied sounds "spooky" to me. Why did she take a picture of the info? Could she have asked the director of nurses or her instructor for permission and be allowed to do so? I think it is illegal as any information in a patients chart is a legal documentation.

debRN0417 · Dec 11, 2008

If there is no patient identifying information, then it must be something that is in the school policy maybe? It seems to me, if there is nothing to identify the patient then it would be the same as taking a picture of your homework notes. It is scary though that cells have cameras and everyone has them in their pockets....

PsychNurseWannaBe, BSN, RN · Dec 12, 2008

Hi. Here's the scenario. My son is in pharmacy school. His friend is in the nursing program. Apparently while reviewing a chart, his friend took a cell phone picture of a document that was in the chart. There were NO patient identifiers on the paper. The school says she violated the HIPAA policy. I contend (and no, I am not an attorney) that since there was no patient identifier on the paper, it couldn't be a HIPAA violation. Any experts out there?

There wasn't any patient identifier on it? No room number, no account/medical record number, names (including family) mentioned in the dictation? If it truly was a "clean" document, I don't think that is a HIPAA violation. Although I would never suggest taking a picture with a camera phone. They should have asked the facility if they are allowed to make a photo copy. When I was going to school; our school policy was that we could not make any copies of the patient's chart, regarldless of patient indentifiers or not. The school doesn't want to find themselves in a lawsuit. We would have been written up and possibly kicked out of the program if we photo copied info. (Which makes researching and careplanning really hard when you do the majority of it at home after clinical)