Possible HIPPA Violation

llg, PhD, RN · Sep 29, 2017

There is a difference between a "hospital rule" and a "law." Printing something from the official medical record is not necessarily a violation of the law, but it might be a violation of the hospital rules.

As a law, HIPAA deals with the protection of health information -- who is able to have access to what. It doesn't say that nothing can ever be printed. We print information that is in the electronic record all the time. We give copies of discharge instructions to patients. We send lab reports, case summaries, etc. to referring physicians and/or those who will be following up after discharge. While a lot of that is done electronically today, not all of it can be. So, things sometimes get printed out. As long as it is given to someone legally allowed to receive it, then no law has been broken.

But the hospital might have a policy/rule that prohibits students from printing information for their personal student use. My hospital has such a rule. That may have been the reason you were told never to print anything out.

Wuzzie · Sep 29, 2017

It depends on what you are using the print out for. If it is for patient care then, no, it is not illegal but it must be destroyed when you are done caring for the patient. However, you may not take home a print out/picture of anything such as an SBAR to prepare for clinicals because there is no way for that information can be secured.

Juliez0313 · Sep 29, 2017

That is my question/concern. The instructor printed the information at the hospital then gave it to me in her office at my school and told me that all the information that I need for my prep work is there. The patient's name was not marked out, only the teachers information at the bottom of the page.