I recently met a patient at our facility who came to us with a really hard injury. I had a long talk with the patient and he's been on my mind a lot. Recently, while with my family, I mentioned to them that I had met someone at our facility who had come in with this injury (I named the injury, in vague terms), but didn't share anything else, such as name, age, doctor, address, etc. I did mention that the patient was a man, and didn't even mention that I had seen and/or spoken to the patient.
But by simply sharing that this patient indeed came to our facility, and even saying in general terms the nature of the injury, I believe that I may have violated Hipaa!
I am filled with regret and heartsick over this slip, as I am almost neurotic about never saying anything to friends or family about patients.
Any insights on this?
And, if I did violate Hipaa, what should I do next?
As long as the medical information you're sharing cannot be connected to that individual patient, there is no HIPAA violation. Name, DOB, address, employer, or family associated with that patient should not be shared. In my opinion, considering that there's about a 50% chance that a patient is one gender or another, it is reasonable to conclude that you are not in hot water if you disclose a patient's gender. I think a lot of healthcare professionals lack adequate training on HIPAA, and, as a consequence, the law is either excessively misinterpreted or disregarded. At least you asked, and at least you know it's HIPAA and not HIPPA!
scaredsilly, BSN, RN
1,161 Posts
As others said, no identifying info means no violation.
We all see unusual stuff at work and talk about it to family, just keep all the identifying info out and you are A-OK