Hospital email addresses

[CamillusRN, BSN]

Hello again, my friends!

Our hospital has just recently enforced a policy that nurse managers can no longer send hospital-specific info (memo's, work orders, data forms) to personal email accounts to reduce the risk of HIPAA violations. This has created a bottleneck in the information highway d/t the fact that the managers are the only ones provided with email addresses through the hospital. Our IT department has said it costs such-and-such money for each additional email account, and has convinced our DON to drop the topic of providing all nursing staff with a hospital email address.

Have any of you run into this issue? How were you able to resolve the conflict? Are you at liberty to discuss what company your hospital uses for their internal email management?

Thanks much! I'd like to re-open the discussion between our DON and the IT guys, but I feel like I should do so with more information in my orificenal.

[klone, MSN, RN]

I have NEVER heard of a hospital not providing all staff with an email address.

[RNsRWe, ASN, RN]

I have NEVER heard of a hospital not providing all staff with an email address.

Oh, I have. Used to work for a hospital that taped memos and policy changes, etc to the medroom door. Only management had email addresses, so they printed out stuff that affected the department and taped it up on the door

If there was a person-specific communication, you got the thing printed and put into an envelope....taped to the door.

And if you were off for a stretch of time, and didn't see the posting to the door? Good luck getting caught up!

[HouTx, BSN, MSN, EdD]

Count me among the "everyone gets email" group. Not all staff actually use their email or check it very often, but that's a completely different story - LOL. We are also introducing a secure social network platform called NextWave Connect. It's specifically for health care. We're going to use it to support 'natural' communication mechanisms that are like the ones that everyone already uses. NWC is available in a smartphone app, so it should be more acceptable since no one has to remember to log into an email account they never use.

(I am not associated in any way with NWC - receive nothing from them)

[BloomNurseRN, ASN, BSN, RN]

Honestly my first thought was "that is nuts". I've worked for two hospitals and in a large clinic setting, as well as for a national home healthcare company and all have had individual email accounts. It's the way they communicate information to large amounts of staff and an easy way to update staff on issues when you may be out of the office. I can't imagine not having an email address at each of my jobs. Wow.

[NurseEmmy]

I have NEVER heard of a clinic or hospital setting not offering an email address for employees. I did work for several homecare agencies that did not offer you email address so they simply used your private email address. Nothing HIPAA related was transmitted via email.

[imintrouble, BSN, RN]

We've only been assigned a hospital email in the last year.

But then we're years behind everybody else in technology, so that makes sense.

We used the tape and memo method described by RNsRWE.

I wouldn't want my place of employment to be able to send memos to my personal email.

[toomuchbaloney]

Back in the day, when we didn't have email, we communicated in writing. The memos or whatever were posted on unit in a designated spot. After that they were placed into a communication book or file which stored them by date so that they could be reviewed by staff at their convenience.

If the secretary of state can use personal email for work I guess we ought to be able to also. lol