Invasion of Privacy

[jacelynn]

Hello. I have my first fundamentals test tomorrow and I'm going over the end of the chapter questions and I am a bit confused to the the answer to one. Granted, the teacher told us that there are "typos" in the book. the question is asking if it is considered invasion of privacy if you talk about a patients diagnosis without stating their name. The book days this is considered oo. Help me understand

[Jazziepants]

Any information you give where it can be even deduced who you are talking about is an invasion of privacy. Say i work at shady pines and i said i have a person that is 500lbs and copd. If you could walk in an guess which patient it is based on my description. I have violated privacy.

[loriangel14, RN]

If you have discussed any information that would identify the patient you are invading privacy. The fact that you didn't use their name doesn't matter. If you have a patient on the floor and you say "that lady that was in the tragic car accident", people will still deduce who you mean without having her name mentioned.

[nurseprnRN, BSN, RN]

You can say something like, "I had a patient with hepatitis with these labs.... and I did this kind of care.... and I wondered about how I should have ..."

But you can't say," I had this guy on Four South last Thursday who's a cook at the Blue Moon Cafe on Main Street and he has hepatitis he got from his old lady." Now it's possible to identify him, and her too!

We actually invade privacy all day long; it can't be helped. What we cannot do is disclose private health information to anyone who doesn't have a bona fide right to know it.

[jacelynn]

Thanks for the input everyone. Had my first fundamentals test today. I think I passed atleast. Those nclex are tricky!!!!