Hipaa

[Isaac86]

I took 2 pictures of my patient's medications for my careplan without showing any name or any identification on the screen of my phone. (Just medications). When my teacher was asking me about my patient information i told her i took 2 pictures about his medications, my teacher told me it wasnt right so i deleted the pitures right away from my phone. later during the week i got notified i couldnt go back to my clinical until latest notice. I dont know what to do. i was been honest with the teacher and i made sure there was no name or any type of identification on the picture. Is this a hipaa violation? please be polite on your answers.

[Here.I.Stand, BSN, RN]

Not a HIPAA violation, but taking a picture while on the unit -- or even having a phone out --- is probably against school/hospital policy.

[Isaac86]

our teacher gave us permission to use our phone to look for drugs if we have the apps. i have the apps and the drug books on my ibooks. Not a reason or excuse for me to take a picture. I was honest and i told the teacher right away and i deleted those pictures as soon as possible. My mistake was not showing the pictures to her and deleting them in front of her

[Rose_Queen, BSN, MSN, RN]

HIPAA? Not likely. Against school or facility policy? Probably. A threat to your school's continued presence for clinical experiences at that facility? Yep.

At this point, all you can do is wait. It would also be wise to be prepared to admit you made a mistake, you've learned from it, and it won't happen again. With an action plan to make sure.

[Isaac86]

HIPAA? Not likely. Against school or facility policy? Probably. A threat to your school's continued presence for clinical experiences at that facility? Yep.

At this point, all you can do is wait. It would also be wise to be prepared to admit you made a mistake, you've learned from it, and it won't happen again. With an action plan to make sure.

i did told the teacher that i deleted those pictures right away. the teacher gave us permission to use our phone to look for the meds, either if your have the apps or the drug book on your phone.

[Rose_Queen, BSN, MSN, RN]

i did told the teacher that i deleted those pictures right away. the teacher gave us permission to use our phone to look for the meds, either if your have the apps or the drug book on your phone.

That doesn't equate to being allowed to use the camera feature of the phone. Honestly, between this thread and your other thread, I'm hearing a lot of excuses. "We had permission to use our phones". Instead of using that line, you need to admit you didn't use best judgment, explain to the faculty that it won't happen again, and be smart about using the phone in clinical. Frankly, I'm surprised they were allowed at all- my facility does not permit personal cell phones to be carried, regardless of clinical instructor or school rules. Clinical resources are available on the facility's intranet, rendering the phones unnecessary for apps or electronic drug books.

[mkk99]

our teacher gave us permission to use our phone to look for drugs if we have the apps. i have the apps and the drug books on my ibooks. Not a reason or excuse for me to take a picture. I was honest and i told the teacher right away and i deleted those pictures as soon as possible. My mistake was not showing the pictures to her and deleting them in front of her

No - your mistake was taking photos of your patient's medications. What should you do? Wait until your school tells you what to do. It's in their hands, there's nothing for you to do at this point.

[meanmaryjean, DNP, RN]

Never EVER use your camera in a health care setting. EVER!

[MunoRN, RN]

If there are no patient identifiers then there is NO HIPAA violation. Most of the violations that people get in trouble for that they refer to as HIPAA violations actually seem to be privacy policies of individual institutions, which is primarily what you'll get fired for.

[Ruby Vee, BSN]

our teacher gave us permission to use our phone to look for drugs if we have the apps. i have the apps and the drug books on my ibooks. Not a reason or excuse for me to take a picture. I was honest and i told the teacher right away and i deleted those pictures as soon as possible. My mistake was not showing the pictures to her and deleting them in front of her

Having permission to use your phone to look up drugs does not equate to having permission to photograph private health records. It was (at best) very poor judgement to do so. Since no one but you knows what exactly you photographed, I'm guessing that there will be problems both with your school and with the facility.

Admit that you used poor judgement, throw yourselves on the mercy of your instructor and the clinical site and stop making excuses. Possibly they'll allow you to stay in school.

[Nachomama]

That's tough. We are not allowed to photograph anything from charts or even copy and paste drug names from chart to paste on word to look up later. Any printing, copy & paste, etc will immediately get you kicked out. They make a huge deal here about it. They have to do everything they can to protect privacy.

[Horseshoe, BSN, RN]

i did told the teacher that i deleted those pictures right away. the teacher gave us permission to use our phone to look for the meds, either if your have the apps or the drug book on your phone.

That's not what you did, however.

This is most likely against both school and facility policy, not necessarily because you violated HIPAA, but because you went down a path which could take you to that fork in the road. They don't want you to even go there at all; it's a slippery slope that could result in an eventual fall, and the school doesn't want to lose their privileges at that facility. It's hard enough to come up with enough clinical sites which will allow students. They cannot afford to lose their good relationship with this facility because of the risky actions of a student.