hipaaowned11

I screwed up. I have home access to our charting system. I needed to get into a patient’s chart I cared for and clicked on another patient’s chart, accidentally. I ended up changing some information and didn’t realize it. I sort of undid everything but came across a prompt saying “DEPARTED.” I have never seen this before and thought it read “DECEASED”. I have read about people being terminated for HIPAA violations in patient’s charts where sentinel events occurred. So in a panic, I went through the other patient's chart and read, and read, and re-accessed and read. So “departed” meant patient was discharged. I am not sure why it was still on the patient list. I feel terrible. I cannot sleep. I want to report myself to medical records, my manager, whoever else is relevant at the hospital and tell them what happened. I want to cry.