I will try to make this as short as possible, however it is a very complex situation.
First, I am a nursing student in my psych rotation. On my first day of clinicals, my biological father was one of my consumers. I was completely shocked b/c I had not seen him in over 10 years. I was not raised by him and he was somewhat comparable to that great aunt that sends you birthday cards each year. However, upon the death of my mother 4 years ago, my daddy (man that raised me) would not have anything to do with me. I won't get into all that...
So while I had a lot of anxiety about this POSSIBLY being him, I was growing increasingly excited. For any of you who lost a parent, imagine what it must be like to be able to say the word "mom" or "dad" again. Okay, so that's how i was feeling.
My biological father had a name change either right before or right after he was released from prison. He wrote letters to my grandmother and I occasionally throughout my life and on one of them, included his name change. He also let us know about his prison sentence and what agreements he made concerning treatment so he could have a lighter sentence.
OKay, so after my first day of possibly seeing him I called my grandmother to ask what she knew about him - where he was, etc. she was not sure the exact place but we spent the rest of the night talkin about him, what his eyes were like, hair, the way he sat, etc. I was so excited! As a few days went on I was almost sure it was him b/c of the way he treated me. He told me he was proud of me, would pat me on the back each day when I left, etc. I asked my aunt and grandmother (which is comparable to a normal families mother and father) to help me find his name change so I could be sure. So, I found out his name change and it was indeed him!
My aunt felt like I should let my clinical teacher know. So i did. The conversation was fine. She was shocked, of course, but I felt good after having talked to her. She was concerned about safety issues and I told her my aunt and grandmother felt that he would not harm me in any way. So after she and I talked, she apparently talked to the couselor at the facility. I am not sure why but I am thinking it was to ensure my safety. Later that night I get a phone call from my teacher telling me that the counselor was concerned about a breach in confidentiality. I told my teacher he is a past sex offender and his whereabouts are made known to the public, not to mention he has always kept my grandmother somewhat informed.
I thought the issue was at rest until a week later my teacher called to tell me the class coordinator and dean wanted to talk with me. She said she felt like the dean understood how traumatic this all had been and would be sympathetic. So naive me, I walk in there like I am going to be appraised for handling a situation so well, etc. Well, it was the opposite. I was repremanded (sp?) for a breach in confidentiality. They took 30 points away from my TOTAL grade, making it a 70. This means I'd have to be PERFECT and receive a 100 in my clinicals. On my best days I wouldn't be perfect, and these are far from by best days. They also said they were switching my facilities. New group, new teacher, and a long drive into the city (which I can't drive in!). I was in such shock at the meeting I don't remember saying much.
Everything happened so fast, it is slowly sinking in. I am being snatched away from a man i was growing to love, and there is no telling how this is going to make him feel. He doesn't know what's going on but i'm assuming when the clinical group gets there and i'm not, he's going to feel like it's his fault.
And what's the point of going? It's not possible to get a grade of 100, it simply isn't.
I have been through many things in life and overcome all of them, but i don't know how to overcome this situation.
The THOUGHT of Psych gives me severe anxiety. I have cried more the past couple of days then I have ever cried! I am constantly feeling like i can't breath and nauseated. It is affecting ALL areas of my life, including my other classes. I DON'T KNOW WHAT TO DO!
I have class all day on Mon then clinicals on Tues and Wed. I can barely get through a nonproductive day due to being so mentally and physically drained, the very thought of attending clinicals is overwhelming. So what do I do? Quit school? Then what? All of my options are extremely depressing. I need help sorting all of this out.
And I still don't understand how I am in so much trouble for talking to my family about it. His medical info. was NEVER mentioned. I didn't even KNOW his diagnosis until MY TEACHER told me (after I told her about him being my father). And apparently it's okay for the counselor, class coordinator, and dean know about this very personal issue for me, but not my aunt and grandmother?
I want to ask those of you who are supporting the student and criticizing the school -- what if a (hypothetical) student had done something equally outside the norms/rules/expectations of safe, responsible practice in a med-surg setting, over a period of days, without consulting with her/his instructor?? Would you still be as calm and sympathetic about the situation, or would you feel differently about that? Again, I don't want to sound like I'm frothing at the mouth or wanting to crucify the student, but some situations are just too serious to say "oh well, I'm sure you meant well" and leave it at that.
I understand where you're coming from, but in a situation such as this I think the school needs to stop and think about the circumstances involved. This person was blind-sided by all of this, and I think most of us can agree it was an emotional and traumatic experience for her. An experienced nurse would have recognized how dangerous this could be; while I would expect even a student to understand limits and safe/ethical practice, this situation was no doubt beyond anything the school (or even most of us) could imagine. As I said above, they should have used this as a learning experience. Punish her, sure. Assign extra work, perhaps a research paper on patient confidentiality. But to take away 30% of a grade she has already earned was far too harsh, IMO.
First, thank all of you for your comments and support. This is by far one of the hardest times in my life (and i've had some pretty hard times) and the support has been great.
To answer some of the questions...
No, he (my bio father) did not make an issue of the situation. he KNOWS that it's me.. but he doesn't know that i KNOW that it's him. Make sense? I didn't want him to know that I knew b/c i didn't know what i wanted to do with that information (as far as future contact goes) and I wanted to protect his feelings as much as I could.
And when I met with the dean & class coordinator I did acknowledge hippa. I UNDERSTAND the importance of those laws and how they are made to protect the consumers/patients. I really do. However, the wondering if it was my father or not could have only been answered by my family and I HAD TO KNOW! My actions in this situation are not indicative to my future career as a nurse.
And to the person who was asking about my previous clinical experience and being informed about hippa... this is my second semester. the first semester i had a foundations in nursing clinical and now i'm in my psych clinical. we watched a video last semester on hippa, so yes i'm familiar with it. i hate when people try to justify things that are just wrong, but in an attempt to explain why.. here is my answer. I guess, i just didn't think it would be "wrong" or "as wrong" b/c 1) i was asking my family if that was him 2) he is a past sex offender and his whereabouts are suppose to be made public 3) i KNOW for sure he would not mind, he has always tried to keep in contact with my family 4) I did not disclose (nor did i know until my teacher told me) any medical information
But again, I say this to try to explain, but not to justify. I understand that it was a violation of hippa.
And about my issues with having to switch facilities.... it's not a HUGE deal, just one more thing to add to everything else. The facility is 1 1/2 hours away from my house in a BIG city that i've never driven in. I'm now "under" the clinical instructor that docked me the 30 points and I feel like she hates me. I have to write DOS papers on patients that I know little to nothing about. But i mean, all that's okay, i'm just complaining. The 30 points is my main concern b/c it's impossible for me to make a score of 100...
Heavenly - I'm so sorry you are learning such a tough lesson and at great expense. Hope things go better for you the rest of the semester. I too believe the school was heavy handed with the punishment.
Although it is a privacy violation to have shared the information with your family... I do feel the school is completely out of line with their punishment.
As someone else pointed out, many professional RN's are unaware of the nuances of the law and many over-protect in lieu of applying it incorrectly. Your instructor didn't react in such a manner first, which puts into question her own knowledge of the law.
Every school has a grievance process and I would file for grievance ASAP. Find and contact your school's Nursing Students association representative and student government president to get some counseling on how to fight your case.
Taking away 30 points from your grade is too much, how are you supposed to pass? Isn't passing in nursing above 80%? (maybe that's different in each school, but it was in mine). So, giving you a 70% to start with is the same as failing you except they collect your tuition till the end of the course. Ridiculous!
Learn from the mistake, accept and acknowledge your error, but FIGHT, FIGHT, FIGHT for your grade!
It's the school's job to be teaching you about privacy laws. If you didn't know how to apply the law, it is mainly the school's responsibility and lack of proper teaching.
If you do not pass due to your inability to make a perfert score because of your punishment, I would contact a lawyer. As I understand , you were not sure that was your father until you confirmed his new last name? This was a reasonable reason to ask your family, it does not to me like a blatant hippa violation, imo.
Actually, now that I think a little more about it, 1 question:
When you called your grandmother to find out your biological father's new legal name, did you say: "There's this guy in the psych ward at ABC hospital whose name is John Johnson, is that my dad's new name?"
or
Did you say, "what's my dad's new name grandma?"
If it was the latter, then you didn't violate HIPPA. And, as soon as you found out your dad's new name, you told your instructor. Which is the correct thing to do whenever you encounter someone you know during clinical work as a student.
I understand (and do sympathize) that this is a v. difficult and emotional situation for this student, but I'm really alarmed by the general lack of judgment shown -- not going immediately to her instructor as soon as she suspected the client might possibly be her father.
she did go to her clinical instructor.
that's what initiated this series of events.
and this is certainly not a cut and dry situation.
her clinical instructor basically gave her the go ahead in remaining in this situation.
she shared concerns about safety but after being assured by the op, she ok'd it.
this is why i think the school should be taking some responsibility in this.
the op (heavenly, is it?) needs guidance, not punishment.
heavenly, i would indeed grieve this process- specifically the 30 pt penalty.
go to the dean or whatever process you have to follow.
and i also agree, that a lawyer might be beneficial.
It's becoming so much I'm thinking about just changing my major. I went into nursing b/c I have a REAL compassion towards people. I really do! I'm the person that will stop on the side of the road if you have a flat tire. I WANT to go out of my way to help people. But they don't teach, or even seem to care about all of these things in nursing anymore.
IDK, maybe i'm just discouraged b/c of everything that's going on...
To answer someone's question about how i initiated the convo with my grandmother...
I called her (excited) and said, I think I saw *** today! Do you know where he's living now? she says no, but that she has letters he's written her. she is blind so she says she'll let my aunt go through them when she gets back from vacation. I ask her about physical things - glasses? hair? eyes?
I don't remember at what point I said he was at the facility. i don't even know if i did b/c it simply wasn't where the emphasis lied... i guess i implied it, with my grandmother knowing i had my clinicals that day. but again, there was no emphasis on that b/c it was already known to my family that he was in treatment....
I really am just thinking to change my major. I don't know what to yet... but something more personable, less research. more emotional, less IV and catheters. I have written over (not exaggerating) 100 pages of research papers and i'm only in my second semester. these just aren't the things i care about....
Hang in there if you can. Real life nursing is NOTHING like Nursing School--thank goodness. I had several nurses tell me this when I was going to school, and it helped me hang in there.
One of the most difficult parts of being a healthcare professional is separating yourself from that part (within) that reacts during psychiatric rotation. I also have a psychiatric specialty, have been published in research but also had a sick family member within the setting while in school.
Do your best for yourself. It takes a lot to be a nurse; this is a test of endurance. Your school should provide clinical opportunity for you; that is what they are paid to do.
My experience is that when someone comes down on you this hard they are afraid they have done something wrong themselves. I think you should have been pulled off the case, even the unit, immediately when they found out you were related. The instructor was negligent and that made the school negligent and they know it. It is wierd because if you would have kept silent about the whole thing it would have been ok. Later on if it leaked out you could have could have said you didn't have a clue. You are being punished for being honest. As long as you went to instructer immediately when you found out I think you are in the clear. However, you should have NEVER discussed a patient expecially on psych with a family member. Did they not that that before you before you went into psych? However, since you are a student I think it can be excused but never do it again. Hmmmm, I wonder what a lawyer would say about all this. I think your biological father(shaky character that he is) could actually have a reason to sue for breach of confidentiality if he decided he did not care for the fact that you had discussed him with your family.
It is wierd because if you would have kept silent about the whole thing it would have been ok. Later on if it leaked out you could have could have said you didn't have a clue. You are being punished for being honest. As long as you went to instructer immediately when you found out I think you are in the clear.
So the moral of the story is that nursing students shouldn't be honest?? :uhoh21:
Go back and reread the OP -- she continued in clinical for multiple (doesn't specify how many, but clearly more than one) days without mentioning this situation to her instructor until her aunt told her that might be a good idea! That's what I find most alarming -- the idea that a student would encounter any kind of weird, unfamiliar situation in clinical, not just this one, and not immediately consult with the clinical instructor. Again, if a situation this far outside the normal bounds of good practice occurred in a med-surg setting without involving the clinical instructor for several days, would everyone be as comfortable with that? I can't help but think that the inability to judge when one needs to consult an instructor for guidance is a basic safety issue. What else would this student not consult her instructor about?
I agree that the school bungled their end of things, and, as I said, I figure that's why they're being as lenient with her as they are. I do hope that the OP will be able to learn from this, recover, and move on.
EmmaG, RN
2,999 Posts