MInurse19

Yes I am in MI, I was trying to look earlier without much success but perhaps was not looking in the right places. I will look again.

I was terminated from my job for a HIPAA violation. Basically I looked in the chat of a patient that a CPR was called overhead for as I worked in ICU and was up for admission so it was likely this patient would come to me. This is something I have seen many others do as well. After the pt did not come to my unit I re opened the chart just to see what the outcome had been (stupid move on my part I know, and I guess in my mind I figured I had already been in the chart once so what did it matter?) Anyways the patient did not survive and it ended up becoming a sentinel event. The hospital of course audited this patients chart and began investigating anyone who accessed the chart (myself included). I knew they were meeting yesterday and was a wreck at work all day. After my shift, I was called to go to HR where they terminated my employment for violation of HIPAA regulations. My previous employer said they would not disclose that information to potential future employers, but that they were required to report it to the State Board. What can I expect to happen? This is my first offense, and I have a spotless license up until now. Will I lose my license over this? Is it even worth it to start looking for jobs right away? I am physically sick over this whole situation, I have not been able to eat in 2 days, and now I cannot stop crying. Please no criticism, I have been beating myself up over this enough. I know what I did was wrong and stupid and I deserve what happened. I just need to know where I go from here.