Comis

How many times do I have to tell you to warm your hands before touching a patient?!

I'm a huge fan of the Kyocera Torque for Sprint. It's fully water and dust-proof, so if you get something gross all over it, you can literally dunk it in your sink and wash it with soap and water. Plus, it's mil-spec ruggedized so you don't have to worry about beating it up or breaking it. Even with the rugged casing, it's about the size of a normal Android phone or iPhone if they had a decent Otterbox case. It has a ridiculously long lasting 2500 milliamp-hour battery, and a screen that is just big enough but not too big (so it doesn't waste too much of that battery). It shipped with Android Ice Cream Sandwich and has an upgrade to Jelly Bean (Android 4.1), so it's modern enough for any app. The processor is a dual-core Snapdragon S4 at 1.2 GHz, so it's fast enough. The built-in storage is only 4 gigs, but it can take a 32 gig microSD card (which only costs $20 on Amazon). There are phones out there with slightly faster processors and bigger screens, but nothing that can beat the battery life or ruggedness (not to mention ick-proof-ness) of the Torque. Look it up on PhoneScoop or google some of the reviews and you'll see what I mean. Of course, yes, the Nexus 5 is a solid choice too, and the fact that it can be used on any provider (other than Verizon) is nice. It's got great stats and looks really nice... But you'll be really sad the first time you get some nasty biology all over it.

Get over it, and/or get used to it. You are a man in the nursing field. You do all sorts of manly stuff in your off time. And/or you don't. Either way, please don't feel like you need to justify your existence to the people around you. You are doing your job. Do it well, and that is all that matters.

It looks like MSU Denver was successful in their review. Their accreditation page now says that they were granted continuing accreditation in June 2013 that is good for eight years. They list their next scheduled evaluation visit as spring of 2021.

Ultimately, you have to remember that people can figure things out. It doesn't take a Sherlock Holmes style genius; it really doesn't. It may be true that you didn't post anything that was specifically "personally identifiable information", but it's also still true that anyone who can read your posts on Facebook and knows where you work could infer "personally identifiable information" about the people you saw that day. Even if you're not subject to technical HIPAA violations, you may be violating the spirit (and intent) of the law by giving away information about people, even when you don't mean to. And that information can hurt people. The upshot is that you should not ever post about personal experiences in healthcare on any part of the internet, ever. Amy, I am pretty sure that you are a great nurse. It's also probably true that nobody's privacy was actually compromised by your Facebook post. We both also need to recognize that someone's privacy (or even safety) absolutely could have been hurt by your post, and might be, next time. And that is important. I hope that you are okay, and that you keep your job, because I believe that you are good at what you do and that you care about people's privacy. I also hope that you understand why you are in trouble right now, and why that is important.

That's a rough one. You were following the instructions of the person in charge of that site (who you understood was telling you that the room was secure), and I think that's what you can hold to. Yeah, they can argue that the documents were in your custody, and you had a responsibility to personally destroy them. If you had left while that site manager was still in the room, we wouldn't even be having this conversation. Your best (and most accurate) argument, I think, is that you considered that room to be secure. The site manager instructed you to leave them there, and you understood that to mean that the room was secure, and the documents would be destroyed before any unauthorized person had a chance to see them. In retrospect, yes, you absolutely should have told the site manager that you wanted to see them destroyed in person, and asked where the shredder was. (Do that from now on.) I think you know that, and as far as this incident goes, you understood that the room you were leaving those documents in was secure.

What?!? Your thread title is "Nurses can't be punished for violating HIPAA", but you admitted in your original post that nurses definitely can be punished for violating HIPAA. You know as well as I do that most nurses reading this won't care at all about how likely they are to be federally prosecuted. That means nothing, because they can still easily lose their job (and along with it any recommendation for any decent job in the future) because of a HIPAA violation. Federal prosecution (or the lack thereof) is pretty much meaningless for the average nurse. Your point that any given nurse is extremely unlikely to be federally prosecuted is true, but it's a purely intellectual argument. It's more or less meaningless in the context of day to day nursing practice and job security.

Yup, I agree with just about everything that's been said. I did A&P II and Microbiology together over a summer 10-week semester, and felt that they went well together. It was definitely more work than a normal semester, but if you know that going in and are ready to put in the time and energy, it's definitely possible to pull off an A in both (I did). One thing I'd mention is that the lab practical exams seemed to be the biggest threat to me getting an A in both classes. This was true for my classmates too, so I'd really suggest that you pay extra attention to your labs while you're doing them (don't fall into the trap of just getting it done and getting out, make sure you understand everything that you're doing while you're doing it). Make sure to put special attention into studying for your lab practicals if you want those As; not just before the practical, but every week as you're preparing for your labs and while you're in lab doing them.