HIPAA violation or not..?

[traumaQN]

There is a huge ordeal in my clinical group. I have managed to stay out of it (thankfully I wasn't there when it happened and haven't been forced into getting involved), but was wondering what you guys thought about this.

The week before last in clinical, one of the students went to the nurses desk, called a friend, and told them that their step-mother was in the hospital with pneumonia and it looked pretty bad. The student did this in front of 2 students, a nurse (or more?), a doctor, and the unit secretary.

She was turned in for violating HIPAA and was told by the hospital that she was not welcome back. Our clinical instructor told her to go home. She was later notified by the department that she had been dropped from the program.

She appealed, of course, and continued to attend class.

Her clinical review was last Thursday and this morning she was in class for our test... so I guess she is still in..

what are your thoughts on this?

[IaCountryGirl]

Here is a link to an article pertaining to HIPAA and nursing. Scroll all the way to the bottom and it gives scenarios with the appropriate response. Good article for any present and future nurses.

http://nursingworld.org/ojin/topic27/tpc27_1.htm#ANA01

[caroladybelle, BSN, RN]

I agree,I am amazed at the condemnation and judgement that is going on here, I hope not one of you will ever make a mistake in your nursing career. I come from Europe and when I first came to the US , I was perplexed to see how quickly everyone get sewed for everything around here. But I see that even amongst themselves in a profession there is just no forgiveness . Did she make a mistake? Yes, do we know the whole story? NO! We should not jump to conclusion and even if I made that mistake, I sure hope that I would be able , especially as a student get a sec. chance. Look around this site, what about med errors, aren't those way more dangerous, no one cried there: fire her, fire her. HOpe you guys never have a brain fart or something like that.

It has nothing to do with "us" condemning the student.

It has nothing to with what "we" want at all.

IT IS THE LAW IN THE USA!!!!!! And if you work/volunteer/get schooled in a health care facility, YOU MUST OBEY THE LAW!!!!!!!!!!!!

And if you violate the law, you AND THE FACILITY will be penalized. And if the facility is assessed a fine, how likely is it that it will permit students in the facility in the future. It is hard enough to get enough facilities to place students in for clinical.

It is a law with a very valid reason. Given the incidence of domestic violence (spousal, parent/child, child/parent), there are many reasons why the law should be followed.

It is also a law that can be problematic to follow to the letter. HCWs get harassed enough without having to deal with someone deliberately breaking HIPAA.