I am a nursing student in a RN program. I was doing clinical at one of the local hospitals recently. I was summoned to a meeting with the dean of nursing at my college to discuss an issue that was brought to her attention by this hospital. Apparently the hospital claims that I posted patient information to my Facebook account, which I had not done. I asked the dean of nursing what proof the hospital had provided to support their claim that I broke HIPPA. The dean said that she asked the hospital for proof, but they said they could not provide any. To show that I had nothing to hide, I let the dean go through my Facebook page where she found no wrong doing on my part. After this, she said the hospital provided one bit of information from my Facebook page. It was a status update from October where I mentioned I had bipolar disorder. The hospital has banned me from ever doing clinical at their site again, and I'm guessing I can pretty much rule that hospital out as a future employer, as well as any of their local clinics.
Now, to me, this seems like a blatant case of discrimination based on my mental health status, and many others feel the same way.
Now, my question is, what should I do about this?
My father talked to a local nurse who said this could become a big problem for me even outside of this particular hospital. She said I should write a response to their claims, and demand that it be placed in my personnel file at this hospital. I don't know if that is the right path to take or not.
I don't want to be labeled as a person that broke HIPPA policy, but I also don't want to be discriminated against in the future do to my mental health status.
is there any way to get a list of persons who accessed your account, say in the 48-72 hours before the report?during business hours....? are you doing well academically, and have a jealous classmate?...
Specializes in Peds/outpatient FP,derm,allergy/private duty.
I guess I was secretly hoping this wasn't as big of an issue as the rest of you see it.
I thought that, since I got cleared by my college, that I didn't have to worry about this effecting my future beyond not being able to get a job at this one particular hospital.
I guess this whole thing is much more serious than I even knew.
You shouldn't have your horizons narrowed for something you didn't do. Besides, the nursing community is fluid, so you can't just build a wall around that hospital. What if they had a kick- ___ job there? Awful high price to pay.
is there any way to get a list of persons who accessed your account, say in the 48-72 hours before the report?during business hours....? are you doing well academically, and have a jealous classmate?...
I don't know if there is a way for Facebook to tell me who accessed my page in the days before the report was filed with the dean of nursing. I suppose I could check on that.
I will admit to doing well academically (I am a straight A student), as well as admit to doing well in clinical, and always being well liked by my instructors. The idea of a jealous classmate has occurred to me.
If you are a member of a network on Facebook, anyone on that network can view your Facebook, unless you specifically block them. Many people are members of their school or city network.
If you are a member of a network on Facebook, anyone on that network can view your Facebook, unless you specifically block them. Many people are members of their school or city network.
I am aware of this, and am pretty darn positive that my privacy settings on Facebook were set to "Friend's only".
I am aware of this, and am pretty darn positive that my privacy settings on Facebook were set to "Friend's only".
Did you happen to post the update while you were at the hospital? If you were on their wireless network, it's possible their IT department could have seen the update. If you used your cell phone (the provider's internet, not the Wi-Fi), the hospital could have seen the time of the update, noted when you were at the facility, and made a judgement call about your post.
I'd double-check all of your account's settings. Your updates may not have been visible on your profile page, but may appear on a friend's page who may or may not be set to private, especially if you answer those quizzes/games/applications. I know you can make lists where you adjust the settings of who can see what updates--maybe make one of those and keep your classmates/whoever off of it, and then use that for your NS updates.
Then create a fake Facebook account and use that to see what you can see when you view your real page--Facebook has so many darn settings that you could have easily missed one.
Last, always follow the cardinal rule: never post anything on the internet--even privately--that you wouldn't want everyone to see, because privacy settings don't always work. Nor do they protect against jealous classmate readers leaking info
I'm sorry this happened to you. I'd get a lawyer and talk about your options. But also be prepared to accept that should you be cleared of all charges, that hospital may still not want to hire you anyway because of the FB incident.
You did not break any HIPAA laws: if you were talking about a patient, you didn't identify them, and if you were talking about yourself, that's not illegal.
Discrimination is a whole other issue.
I would suggest you have a meeting with the head of the program, one on one, to discuss what happened. This may or may not be that big of an issue.
James 78: I'm going to assume that you are very young and this was a mistake you made that can only be attributed to youthful naivete. Never, NEVER, ever, EVER post personal information about yourself on the internet unless you want the entire electronic universe to know about it. This just shows poor judgement..period. Its irrelevant who has "access" to this data. Just assume everyone does. A lawyer is probably a good idea to ensure that the hospital who sanctioned you will never share that information with anyone else, or even better, get that sanction deleted from their files. I'm sorry you had suffer such a sharp repercussion from your posting, but if you walk away wiser from this, it will have been worth it.
Did you happen to post the update while you were at the hospital? If you were on their wireless network, it's possible their IT department could have seen the update. If you used your cell phone (the provider's internet, not the Wi-Fi), the hospital could have seen the time of the update, noted when you were at the facility, and made a judgement call about your post.
I'd double-check all of your account's settings. Your updates may not have been visible on your profile page, but may appear on a friend's page who may or may not be set to private, especially if you answer those quizzes/games/applications. I know you can make lists where you adjust the settings of who can see what updates--maybe make one of those and keep your classmates/whoever off of it, and then use that for your NS updates. Then create a fake Facebook account and use that to see what you can see when you view your real page--Facebook has so many darn settings that you could have easily missed one.
Last, always follow the cardinal rule: never post anything on the internet--even privately--that you wouldn't want everyone to see, because privacy settings don't always work. Nor do they protect against readers leaking info
I'm sorry this happened to you. I'd get a lawyer and talk about your options. But also be prepared to accept that should you be cleared of all charges, that hospital may still not want to hire you anyway.
I was working clinical at this hospital in July. The post they provided the dean was from October last year, so no, it was not posted while I was at the hospital, but I understand why you asked that.
While some people might find bipolar something to hide, I never have. I don't go around announcing it to everyone, but I am not ashamed of it. Did I think a simple Facebook status update from October (which, I can't even find so I'm not sure it exists) would come back to haunt me? No. I did not.
Lesson learned: be very careful what you put on the internet!
This is a "no win" situation. unfortunately for you, everyone watches too much television and the law was broken and a great unjustice occurred. The most obvious clue to solving this are the missing pieces. perhaps some history would help you see better.
1. the hospital obtained your facebook info. This is the first piece of muddy water. Explain how an outside source gets onto your facebook page. He is the answer, they cannot. So unless you invited thier humar resource dept, then they cannot obtain that info without being given permission to see your page. That puts them out as the primary party. So, the real answer is that someone that you have allowed to see your facebook has betrayed you.
You have the right to obtain the source of the information and that is where the lawyer comes in. The can file for discovery and obtain who, what, where, why and when.
This does not repair your relationship with the hospital in any way. You can cross that hospital off of your list. There might be a way if you had a good working relationship with their HR dept but by the looks of it, you don't.
Ohh yeah, the lawyer would cost you a whole lot and is't not worth it.
protect yourself better and finish school, that is the greatest reward you can ever hope to achieve.
I was working clinical at this hospital in July. The post they provided the dean was from October last year, so no, it was not posted while I was at the hospital, but I understand why you asked that.
While some people might find bipolar something to hide, I never have. I don't go around announcing it to everyone, but I am not ashamed of it. Did I think a simple Facebook status update from October (which, I can't even find so I'm not sure it exists) would come back to haunt me? No. I did not.
Lesson learned: be very careful what you put on the internet!
No one ever thinks that what they post on FB or the web will come back to haunt them...until it actually does. I've been there, done that too--so it's not just you.
Seriously, go over all of your account's settings. Those little FB applications are the worst, because in order to use them, you grant permission for the application to access your profile...and who knows what the application will do with your info after that?
I had the best luck figuring my privacy settings out by using a second account to see what was actually being seen; I also had a friend tell me what she could see from her page. Between the two, I found out that my privacy on FB wasn't as private as I'd hoped That's all been fixed now...but even then, I'm still as careful as possible about what I post on there because you never know who could ever see it.
morte, LPN, LVN
7,015 Posts
is there any way to get a list of persons who accessed your account, say in the 48-72 hours before the report?during business hours....? are you doing well academically, and have a jealous classmate?...