Should I be Worried? I need some opinions?

[Kiroppi]

Hello,

So this is my first clinical at this particular hospital. The hospital gives you a username and login to access their computer (we are also under our clinical instructor in the system). So how computer access works for this hospital is to first log in with your username which gives you access to the computer. Then, you would have to click on the EHR vendor (let's say this hospital uses CARECLOUD) , and then log in with your log information again to access patient records.

Anyways, when I was done with the computer, I would log out of CARECLOUD but not out of the actual computer. The reason why is when I asked my clinical instructor if I should log out of the computer itself she said "You can just leave it like that". I did what she said and didn't think too much of it until I spoke with my classmates. Many of them saying we should have logged out of the computer itself. However, from what I witnessed, some of the nurses at the floor did not log out of the computer itself and some even left it open on their patient records in the nurse's station and other logged out of CARECLOUD but still kept the computer logged in.

So basically, I logged out of the EHR so no patient records were open at all. However, I did not log out of the computer because of what my instructor told me. I'm very scared and paranoid that the hospital IT will think I am suspicious or have violated a rule. Do you guys think I should worry this much? Should I speak to my clinical instructor about this?

[Wuzzie]

You're going to drive yourself crazy with these kind of worries. If your computer is not an auto-log in (opens automatically to a basic platform) you should always completely log out. If it is an auto log-in logging out of the EMR and any other program you opened is correct. Either way you need to clarify but you are not going to computer prison.

[Kiroppi]

Hi Wuzzie,

I do not believe it is an auto-log in. Since in order to even use the computer is to put in our username. But I am just worried, what if the hospital catches this and thinks I am violating HIPAA. I do not believe I violated it.

[Wuzzie]

You didn't violate anything. You're fine. Stop worrying and just log out when you're done from now on.

[kleeschr, BSN, RN]

I don't think it is an issue. Most computers time out and log you out after a certain amount of time anyways. It sounds like no patient information was compromised. Also, I have no idea why a random IT person would just start auditing nursing student's logins, there are way more important things for them to be doing. Just start logging out of the computer entirely!

[Jedrnurse, BSN, RN]

Relax. Breathe. Go for a nice walk.

You're okay.

[Kiroppi]

Well I did log out of patient records, so it was just a regular computer screen after logging out. I'm just worried that the hospital will see this and think I am violating HIPAA despite not showing any patient information.

[Nurse SMS, MSN, RN]

Truly, its okay. Try not to let yourself spin off into panic like this. It will absolutely slay you both throughout nursing school and during the first couple of years on the job.

Just start logging out of the computer. Don't worry about what the nurses are doing. That's forever advice, not just while you are in nursing school advice. You want to log out so that nobody can go look at Media (as an example) while logged in as you. It is highly unlikely anyone has done this. You are going to be fine. Unless you went and looked at Media.

[TheDudeWithTheBigDog, ADN, RN]

If you're logging out of the charting program, you're fine. Typically everything else you can do on the computer is still protected behind another login. No reputable IT department will skip that redundancy. Unless you're saving things with patient information on your login, which is pretty much going to be the social workers and doctors, and other people who have to travel around the hospital, there shouldn't be anything there that can cause any problems. As a nurse, or a student, everything you need to do your job is very likely almost exclusively in the EHR or is still going to require a login every time you open it.

Your computer login is just to access the virtual desktop. If your My Documents folder is empty, there usually is absolutely nothing to worry about.