sgtbarbie

I'm just going to lay low and muddle thru this without an arguement. I called the state; they do not see a HIPAA violation either. Thank you for the input.

First TERM Nursing student. My clinical group and I were supposed to meet at the hospital where I work; no one showed. I was in civilian clothes at the time. Since I've worked there for over 3 years I felt comfortable approaching the nurses in the ER to ask what their techniques are for physical assessment since we had a test in a few days. They were more than happy to help me out. We went over some general stuff and then I was invited to watch a nurse in an ER room perform a physical assessment on a patient in the ER. I had verbal permission from the charge nurse, the attending nurse, the attending nurse received permission from the patient prior to me entering the room and I received permission from the patient directly before asking him any further questions. The nurse showed me her technique and handed me the pen light. I checked to see if pupils were equal and reactive to light, listened to heart and lungs, bowel tones before the floor supervisor nurse came in and said I was not allowed to do that without my clinical instructor present. I called my clinical instructor and told her the whole thing; that's the ONLY thing that saved me by being upfront and honest..... I almost got kicked out of the program. I see that it was against the program policy, though it states "shall not perform patient care" However, I was told I also violated HIPAA. I have searched DHS and cant find anything specific. Is there any HIPAA Gurus out there that can tell me where I can find info pertaining to this situation? I was only trying to be proactive in my education. i know it was stupid but I still can't pinpoint the HIPAA violation. I have to do two reports as restitution. Please help! Thank you....