I have a friend on Facebook who works (not a nurse, but works at the desk) in the ER at a hospital in my area. She sometimes posts things on facebook that happen at work in the ER. Recently, I saw that she made a post about the shift she was working, the department she works in(ER), what her job is(checking pts in). It does say on her FB page which hospital she works in, but that info was not in the actual post I am referring to. So in this specific post, she wrote about something that happened that night in the ER. She was saying that a lady and child came in to the ER and she checked them in, the child was acting like she was abused she could tell by her body language. She wrote a long post about this an that CPS was called (not sure if the hospital called or she did on her own), an that she hopes the lady rots in h***. Anyway, she did not write any of their names or anything, but just told the story about what happened. Is that a HIPPA violation? I have just started nursing school and am really curious about this. I know I personally would NOT post that type of info, but still would like other input.
I don't care b/c I am not this individuals supervisor or coworker. There isn't anything the OP can do about it anyway. What is she supposed to do, call the hospital and tell someone "hey, your employees are on facebook during work time-DO SOMETHING!"
Of course it is bad judgement, that goes without saying. The question was, does it directly violate the HIPAA statue. The feedback is pretty consistent, "NO." And yes, everybody needs to shut the heck up and mind their own business a lot more often. This constant wondering if someone should turn in a coworker for some infraction is ridiculous. Unless there is some egregious safety issue that you witness directly (not just read about on facebook, lol) , worry about your own performance and stop paying attention to what other people are doing. Frankly, it just makes the "whistle blower" look like an idiot most of the time (at best, someone who is not a team player) , since 99% of the time it is about nonsense and rumors. My code of ethics doesn't say squat about monitoring other people's facebook pages and being on alert for any evidence of bad judgement. It's a good thing tot, because I have neither the interest or the stomach for it! It's nonsense. It's childish. It's beneath me. YMMV, lol.
This person is not my coworker. I never asked or implied that I was interested in reporting this person to anyone. I was simply curious about it. I am not a whistle blower. I am a new nursing student. We have talked a bit about HIPPA and what is okay and not okay. I saw that post on FB this afternoon and got my wheels turning a little bit. I was curious, not angry or looking to turn her in.
This person is not my coworker. I never asked or implied that I was interested in reporting this person to anyone. I was simply curious about it. I am not a whistle blower. I am a new nursing student. We have talked a bit about HIPPA and what is okay and not okay. I saw that post on FB this afternoon and got my wheels turning a little bit. I was curious, not angry or looking to turn her in.
Thank you for your feedback.
I know. My comments were not directed toward you, they were directed toward the person who thought we had taken some oath to protect the world from idiots.
It is and isn't a HIPPA violation. Depends....if I read it and knew who she was talking about...then Yess......if I don't know who she is refering to...No
Social networking is getting people fired now a days for posting job related scenarios.....be careful!
Forget about HIPAA, and even forget about the hospital's own HR policies. What about the fact that she is stealing her employer's time on FB during paid work hours? That issue doesn't even seem to be on the radar screen anymore!
But yes, I do think the privacy (and even potentially HIPAA) considerations are real in this case. And to the MYOB comment... The ANA code of ethics would be violated if the OP just "minded her own business." We take an oath to advocate for our patients and to do what is in our power to keep them from being harmed or abused. Failing to do something about a privacy breach goes against our code, and it also likely goes against the hospital HR policy that the OP is employed under.
The ANA code has nothing to do with this as the person posting on FB was not a nurse. She was an admissions clerk.
I know. My comments were not directed toward you, they were directed toward the person who thought we had taken some oath to protect the world from idiots.
LOL !
I was recently in a meeting where an identical scenario was discussed hypothetically. Our chief privacy officer says that Date of Service is considered to be an identifier and thus it is a HIPAA violation.
Didn't you just do the same thing your coworker did?
Again, she is not my coworker. No, it is not the same thing at all...at least not from my a point of view. I don't do clinicals at the location where my friend works, nor am I employed there. Not to mention, I did not say what hospital it was, I just said in my area. So, I don't really think that is what is going on here, even unintentionally.
Didn't you just do the same thing your coworker did?
Even if this was a coworker....no, she didn't. We don't know her name or where she works. In which case there is no possible way we could know anything about the situation about which she is talking....
Okay, so maybe it is a HIPAA violation if she gave the date that the patient came into the hospital? I did find a list of HIPAA regulated patient identifiers and "dates" is on the list. Either way, it seems like there is a fine line that she seems VERY close to crossing.
studentCL2009
280 Posts
This person is not my coworker. I never asked or implied that I was interested in reporting this person to anyone. I was simply curious about it. I am not a whistle blower. I am a new nursing student. We have talked a bit about HIPPA and what is okay and not okay. I saw that post on FB this afternoon and got my wheels turning a little bit. I was curious, not angry or looking to turn her in.
Thank you for your feedback.