Who here keeps a personal diary? Of those that keep a diary how much nursing stuff gets thrown in there?
I've been keeping a diary since June and I've been kind of scared to mention too much about my working life in there because of HIPAA, but there are just so many things that I think I'd benefit from writing down in detail so I don't forget them later. I'd also want to use names so that if, god forbid, I ever had to go to court I could look up the day in my diary and use that to jog my memory. I can write things in my diary that I can't write in the notes, if you know what I mean.
But at the same time I think that it might be a huge HIPAA violation for me to have a book with tons of people's medical information and outcomes in my possession. What if this book was ever found? Could I get in trouble for it? Or would my right to privacy to keep a journal of my own personal experiences that I was directly involved in supersede somebody else's write to medical privacy?
And for the record, this question is purely academic. I've been too scared to write anything too detailed about work or clinicals in my diary.
I have been through a DEPOSITION, aside from TESTIFYING it is the worst experience of your career. After you state your demographics and position, the FIRST question asked was... "do I have any personal notes at home or copies of the chart regarding this case"...
I'm going to be point blank honest and abrupt here... NEVER EVER EVER, EVER put anything in writing that is held on your personal nature that has to do with work.
IT IS ADMISSIBLE UNDER DISCLOSURE IN A PRE-TRIAL HEARING. From there, the Judge decides whether to admit it as evidence to a case.
Need I say anything else, cut it out, and leave your journal for your home life, and no you don't have to have specifically named or identified the patient... just have written about them and have it on your person.
DANGEROUS AND BURN ANYTHING LIKE I'VE MENTIONED. ... just shred it and be done:eek:
I have been through a DEPOSITION, aside from TESTIFYING it is the worst experience of your career. After you state your demographics and position, the FIRST question asked was... "do I have any personal notes at home or copies of the chart regarding this case"...
...which again, is why you would never tell anyone that you kept one to start with.
Yup...I am 100% advocating lying to a court you know why?
1. No way can they prove otherwise...if you told no one and I mean no one.
2. Which means they cannot subpoena, what there is no proven existance of.
3. Nobody is going to need to protect your nursing license more than you...and no attorney is going to care as much as you how hard to worked for it.
People need to get off the conspiracy theories...it is simple: If you keep a journal, keep it 100% private and only for your personal reference. Nobody is going to go through your house, go through your drawers, find the journal and turn it over to your employer...seriously folks, I would love to find ONE published case where this has actually happened purely by random....the chances would have to be astronomical.
In this day and age of a society where someone will sue at the drop of a hat and most nurses foolishly carry no malpractice insurance under some delusional myth that it makes them more likely to get sued, if you don't take every step to protect yourself...NO ONE ELSE WILL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Funny thing about thieves, they go through drawers, closets, cabinets, freezers and look for things in the places you might have hidden them. We were just broken into and they took the most random stuff. They didn't know what we had they just busted the door down and went through everything to find out. Again, by putting patients' PHI with identifying details in an unsecured location you are putting their info at risk.
I seriously doubt if someone who robbed your house will go through a journal and say, "Oh my God, this person violated HIPAA!!! We need to report them immediately to the authorities...uh...now how do we explain how we got hold of this since we just broke into her house."
...which again, is why you would never tell anyone that you kept one to start with.
yup...i am 100% advocating lying to a court you know why?
1. no way can they prove otherwise...if you told no one and i mean no one.
2. which means they cannot subpoena, what there is no proven existance of.
3. nobody is going to need to protect your nursing license more than you...and no attorney is going to care as much as you how hard to worked for it.
people need to get off the conspiracy theories...it is simple: if you keep a journal, keep it 100% private and only for your personal reference. nobody is going to go through your house, go through your drawers, find the journal and turn it over to your employer...seriously folks, i would love to find one published case where this has actually happened purely by random....the chances would have to be astronomical.
in this day and age of a society where someone will sue at the drop of a hat and most nurses foolishly carry no malpractice insurance under some delusional myth that it makes them more likely to get sued, if you don't take every step to protect yourself...no one else will!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
while i agree with most of your post, there is no way i will raise my right hand and lie in court because i kept a journal that i shouldn't have done to begin with. it's a moral and ethical code of mine, shouldn't be done, don't do it and i won't have to face perjuring myself in the process. your insurance won't protect you from yourself. no journal, no issues, not worth it. i'm politely saying your giving really bad advice to lie under oath. bad advice... just never need to be in the situation is my point.
Specializes in CCU, SICU, CVSICU, Precepting & Teaching.
...and who are the mysterious people that are going to sneak into your house and steal it and read it?
my stepchild and her cousin -- i found them with my laptop trying to crack the password on my journaling program. my nephew who is a computer genius and might try to get into my journal just as a challenge. other possibilities include your soon-to-be-ex looking for stuff he can use against you in the divorce, your child who thinks if he had the passwords for your bank accounts, he might be able to get some money to take that trip you told him you weren't paying for. your mother who has dementia and doesn't understand what she's reading so she takes it everywhere with her and asks other people what they think. a next door neighbor using for something to use against you in the dispute about the fence between your properties. the person in the apartment next to you using your wifi signal -- the possibilities are endless. and these are only the ones people have told me about.
I seriously doubt if someone who robbed your house will go through a journal and say, "Oh my God, this person violated HIPAA!!! We need to report them immediately to the authorities...uh...now how do we explain how we got hold of this since we just broke into her house."
Seriously...think about that.
Right, they might look at it and throw it on the street where any joe schmoe could pick it up and read whatever had been written. I'm just trying to make a point, I agree, I doubt that would happen, but there's no reason to write that kind of info in a personal journal.
Maybe it's because I live in a small community where I've had patients in adjacent rooms who were also neighbors outside of the hospital, or where the petty thieves are buddies with the alcoholic I just took care of last week. Or my friend has a baby and I overhear a mom/baby nurse talking about a patient in great detail and realize they're talking about my friend. It just makes me very uncomfortable for health-care workers to be writing down PHI with identifiable patient information on it.
while i agree with most of your post, there is no way i will raise my right hand and lie in court because i kept a journal that i shouldn't have done to begin with. it's a moral and ethical code of mine, shouldn't be done, don't do it and i won't have to face perjuring myself in the process. your insurance won't protect you from yourself. no journal, no issues, not worth it. i'm politely saying your giving really bad advice to lie under oath. bad advice... just never need to be in the situation is my point.
i would.
because the judge, jury, no attorney, no hospital administrator, is going to care more about protecting the nursing license more than me.
period.
so, bad advice? depends on which end you are sitting on...if you have "defendent" as a label on an old case? you would be quite the fool if you didn't make every effort to protect yourself...mistakes happen and every one doesn't equal incompetence, however, our court system is not set up like that.
nobody in the courtroom is going to care about your "moral and ethical code" if you cannot recall facts of an old case and were having an "off" charting day..and we all have them.
my stepchild and her cousin -- i found them with my laptop trying to crack the password on my journaling program. my nephew who is a computer genius and might try to get into my journal just as a challenge. other possibilities include your soon-to-be-ex looking for stuff he can use against you in the divorce, your child who thinks if he had the passwords for your bank accounts, he might be able to get some money to take that trip you told him you weren't paying for. your mother who has dementia and doesn't understand what she's reading so she takes it everywhere with her and asks other people what they think. a next door neighbor using for something to use against you in the dispute about the fence between your properties. the person in the apartment next to you using your wifi signal -- the possibilities are endless. and these are only the ones people have told me about.
again, pretty hard to look for something if you do not know it exists.
seriously folks, everyone here is talking about instances that have chances and a set of circumstances that are so incredibly remote, that if you believe that they have a snowball of a chance in hell of happening, then you mine as well spend every extra cent you have playing the lottery, because your chances are better playing that.
mother with dementia.
nephew that is a computer genious.
seriously....seriously...i refuse to clutter my mind with events not worth considering.
"Nobody in the courtroom is going to care about your "moral and ethical code" if you cannot recall facts of an old case and were having an "off" charting day..and we ALL have them. "
Yup, and you need to also realize that you are in 2 of the most litigated areas of nursing. If you have an off day of charting...that can go against you, you could lose your job, the hospital lots of money. And if you can't document that you followed protocol, on this off day, then the hospital is going to kick you to the curb with a big butt smile on their face because you will now be the focus of attention.
Sorry, lying under oath is a bad idea all around. Wait until you have been deposed...it sucks big time and it isn't as easy as people think. I'd rather sit in the courtroom than be deposed. If you have an aggressive and talented lawyer questioning you, it is easy to slip up...they talk in circles and rephrase a lot of things over and over. All it takes is one slip up after being question for 1 or 2 hours (I have been in 2 depositions that were over 2 hours long....I wanted to scream) for you to say, no, I remember because I wrote it down. Pounce goes the lion on the unsuspecting mouse, who is you.
Specializes in Management, Emergency, Psych, Med Surg.
Your personal diary is your business. A lot of people write about their work experiences. It is important not to identify the patients and/ or the facility. Unless you are making some use of this diary in a public manner, it should remain private. However, if you keep this diary on your computer and you transmit any data that contains information about patients etc, this may be a violation of patients right to privacy. You computer can be confiscated as used as evidence. Once they have your computer, they will have ACCESS to everything on it.
In my current job there is NEVER ANY communication between my home computer and my work computer at all. Period. As I work for the state in regulatory capacity, my home computer can be considered evidence if any work related to my job at the state is done from that computer. They would be able to access all files on my computer.
Because the judge, jury, no attorney, no hospital administrator, is going to care more about protecting the nursing license more than me.
Period.
So, bad advice? Depends on which end you are sitting on...if you have "defendent" as a label on an old case? You would be quite the fool if you didn't make every effort to protect yourself...mistakes happen and every one doesn't equal incompetence, however, our court system is not set up like that.
Nobody in the courtroom is going to care about your "moral and ethical code" if you cannot recall facts of an old case and were having an "off" charting day..and we ALL have them.
my wonderful nursing friend, how I respect you for your responses that have really mad me question your facts and re-think them.
I need to honestly ask you, have you been in a deposition, yourself, as a nurse defending your charting... personally?
Please respond, and if no, we can still discuss your point of view. I'm thinking you were possibly screwed and are answering this way?
Zookeeper3
1,361 Posts
I have been through a DEPOSITION, aside from TESTIFYING it is the worst experience of your career. After you state your demographics and position, the FIRST question asked was... "do I have any personal notes at home or copies of the chart regarding this case"...
I'm going to be point blank honest and abrupt here... NEVER EVER EVER, EVER put anything in writing that is held on your personal nature that has to do with work.
IT IS ADMISSIBLE UNDER DISCLOSURE IN A PRE-TRIAL HEARING. From there, the Judge decides whether to admit it as evidence to a case.
Need I say anything else, cut it out, and leave your journal for your home life, and no you don't have to have specifically named or identified the patient... just have written about them and have it on your person.
DANGEROUS AND BURN ANYTHING LIKE I'VE MENTIONED. ... just shred it and be done:eek: