Is this a violation??

[StudentNurse2240]

Had a quick question for all the expierenced nurses out there. Lets say the patient and his caretaker (daughter) wanted to know the medication administer times on all his meds that he got that day and also just to check that the list that he brought from home ( a typed up paper that had his medications and the times on it) matched what we at the hospital had ordered. Is this a HIPAA violation if we just wrote down what times they were administered and gave them to him and his daughter?

[Asystole RN]

No, as long as he has given permission for his daughter to know. Most likely might have violated facility policy though.

[JBudd, MSN]

Pt has the right to know all of his meds and what you are doing, up to him if he decides to share that with his daughter. I think it's great that they pay enough attention to want to be sure his dosages were put in correctly.

[rn/writer, RN]

If the patient is involved and his caretaker daughter is requesting this information, it is most certainly not a HIPAA violation. In this case, it's a smart request and your effort to help him and his daughter understand his med regimen is teaching, not snooping.

HIPAA has good intentions, but unfortunately, it has had the effect of making people believe any kind of patient information is radioactive. This has led to silly situations like EMTs bringing a patient to an ED, then coming back in five minutes later with something the patient left in the rig and being told (by someone who was well aware of the ambulance delivery), "We can't tell you if this person is a patient here or not." Fear is sometimes not conducive to using common sense.

I hope you were able to help this man and his daughter.