Unbelievable

Nurses HIPAA

Published

I had to draw blood on one of the well-known doctors at my large facility. When I was finished I was trying to document only to find that the chart was locked because a nurse on another floor was in it. This nurse was not involved in the patient's care in any way, shape or form. I gave her the benefit of the doubt because sometimes the computer screen refreshes just as you click on a patient and causes the chart above or below your intended one to open. I waited a full 5 minutes for her to get out of the chart!!! At this point I'm thinking this was not one of those oops incidents. So my choices were

1. Call to the floor and speak with the nurse

2. Call the compliance line which most certainly would get her fired

3. Run to the manager and tattle

We have this "Committment to my Co-Workers" program thing going on and one of the things I had to agree to was to always talk to my co-workers first if I have a problem with them (which is my normal MO but I had a previous run-in with this same nurse over another issue[blowing on PICC line sites to dry the antiseptic] which turned out very badly when she accused me of threatening her physically which I absolutely did NOT do)

Not wanting to be accused of trying to get her fired I chose to call her and ask why she was in the patient's chart. Her answer to me was she saw him on the schedule and wanted to see what was going on. I told her it was an enormous HIPAA violation and that she could get in very deep trouble for this. Then she made some other lame excuses for being in the chart and hung up on me. As it turned out she ran to the manager (who is also my manager) with this tale of woe about me being mean to her and I am getting written up for unprofessional behavior!!!!!!

Seriously!!!!! She's the one who broke the law and I'm the unprofessional one? I could have anonymously gotten her fired but took the high road and this is what I get? It makes me want to go ahead and call the compliance line anyway. All it would take is a computer audit and she would be fired and lose her retirement. But I'm not into retaliation no matter how angry I am.

Am I out of line to be furious about this?

Specializes in Peds/Neo CCT,Flight, ER, Hem/Onc.

She was aware but for some reason the other nurse seems to have a Teflon bubble around her.

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Specializes in Med/surg, Quality & Risk.

I'm surprised that when someone comes in that everyone would be curious about, they don't computer audit the entire chart and blow everyone up that doesn't belong in the chart.

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"If you'd done that in the first place, you probably wouldn't have been written up for being mean to her."

You're right but we have a process we are supposed to follow. Had I known it was going to go down this way I would have. You have to remember that the consequences for this person would have been dire. Not a decision I took lightly. It's easy to think you would have done it differently but this woman would have not only lost her job she would have lost her retirement too.

That's fine, having a process that you're supposed to follow if you have a problem with a co-worker (like you ate my yogurt or made a mess that I had to clean up) but if it's something illegal?

If you had seen her shooting up would you have gone to her and talked to her about it or would you have reported it?

My instinct for self-preservation would have kicked in, particularly since there was a previous incident where she lied and things did not go well for you.

The union rep didn't hesitate to make the call "in order to protect me".

Actually, I guess you had a fourth choice, you could have ignored it. :sarcastic:

She chose #3 and got there first, always an advantage. Wonder what her side of the story was?

I wonder how things would have gone if you weren't unionized.

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Specializes in Peds/Neo CCT,Flight, ER, Hem/Onc.
I'm surprised that when someone comes in that everyone would be curious about, they don't computer audit the entire chart and blow everyone up that doesn't belong in the chart.

I actually think they do.

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Specializes in OB-Gyn/Primary Care/Ambulatory Leadership.
She was aware but for some reason the other nurse seems to have a Teflon bubble around her.

Not for long, I predict.

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Specializes in OB-Gyn/Primary Care/Ambulatory Leadership.
I'm surprised that when someone comes in that everyone would be curious about, they don't computer audit the entire chart and blow everyone up that doesn't belong in the chart.

I used to work at a hospital in Aurora CO where most of the Aurora theater shooting victims were taken for care. There was one particular patient there that had made the news because of their particular circumstances and that of the patient's spouse, who was also in the hospital. I worked in research at the time, and we had authorization to go through every patient's record who was in a certain department in order to screen them for suitability for our research studies. Anyway, a coworker and I had both gone into this person's chart (before we realized this person was a theater shooting victim) and as soon as we read that in the narrative notes, we closed up the chart and deemed this person unsuitable for recruitment.

A couple weeks later both my coworker and I got a very terse email from the HEAD of LEGAL at this hospital, essentially saying "state your business for being in this patient's chart." We explained we were screening the patient for suitability for our research studies, and as soon as we saw this patient's circumstances, we closed the chart and that was it. We both CC'ed our boss and our boss's boss on our responses. We never heard anything about it again, but it often made me wonder how many people were fired over that one.

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Was there a union rep with you when you were presented with this "write-up"? It amazes me that a commitment to co-worker thing can be then retaliated against when you actually follow it.

Make sure that your union rep requests from IT the footprint of who accessed this chart. Unfortunetely for your co-worker, it doesn't matter what excuse she gives you regarding her access--it was not her need to know.

Makes sure also that you do report it to compliance. Mainly because when and if this all blows up, you will be left holding the bag in that you knew she was in the chart and did not report it. Puts you in a place that is uncomfortable, however, no more so than if they throw you under the bus.

Finally, call your and have this discussion with them. When people start using the words "unprofessional" it sometimes can cause you nothing but trouble in the long run.

And I get that you don't want to be mean, and that the circumstances would be dire. However, what would be dire is you losing a job over you not reporting this ethical no-no.

Oh, GOOD I see when I read the entire thread that the Union rep made the call! That is awesome! You need to not only protect your patients, but to protect yourself! Best wishes.

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Specializes in HH, Peds, Rehab, Clinical.

Annnndddd???? Does this person not DESERVE to lose her job and all the trappings that come with it, including her retirement? She knew damn well what she was doing was wrong and now that she's been caught with her pants down (figuretively speaking!), she's turned it around to sink you. What if you were to lose you job over this? I'm thinking that she did not spend nearly as much time on her decision to throw you under the proverbial bus as you did on your decision to take the high road....

"If you'd done that in the first place, you probably wouldn't have been written up for being mean to her."

You're right but we have a process we are supposed to follow. Had I known it was going to go down this way I would have. You have to remember that the consequences for this person would have been dire. Not a decision I took lightly. It's easy to think you would have done it differently but this woman would have not only lost her job she would have lost her retirement too.

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Specializes in Psych, Corrections, Med-Surg, Ambulatory.
"If you'd done that in the first place, you probably wouldn't have been written up for being mean to her."

You're right but we have a process we are supposed to follow. Had I known it was going to go down this way I would have. You have to remember that the consequences for this person would have been dire. Not a decision I took lightly. It's easy to think you would have done it differently but this woman would have not only lost her job she would have lost her retirement too.

Was it not drummed into everyone's head that HIPAA is serious and non-compliance carries serious consequences? She knowingly chose to snoop in someone's chart. If she had legitimate cause, it's up to her to state it. The rule of showing loyalty first to your coworkers only goes so far. You do not need to rescue people from the consequences of their actions.

Not reporting this could make you complicit. You need to protect your patient and yourself by doing the right thing.

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Specializes in ER, TRAUMA, MED-SURG.

Makes me wonder what the MD / patient would say if he found out.

Anne, RNC

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I'll be honest with you...if she is doing it with HIM she is doing it to YOU or other nurses on the floor.

I would turn her in!!!! Feel no guilt!!!!

She DOES NOT need to be working there!!!!!!

The reason you need to turn it in is because the reports that get ran (I have seen them) are long. If she is a nurse, they have no idea whether or not she was involved in his care or not. They do random checks against nursing schedules, but they cannot do that with every patient against every nurse's schedule every day.

That doctor NEEDS YOU to advocate for him because you know that there is a violation and you are basically reinforcing her snooping because you know it's going on and didn't report it.

There are two things that I would turn my best friend in for: Working impaired and blatant HIPAA violations.

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Specializes in CCU MICU Rapid Response.

anyone who may need confidence protected at our facilty has a password protected "break the glass" feature. Even if you hop on someone else's open computer, you need to enter your password and state the business of why you're looking.

Recently a few radiology personnel were fired because they were nosy and wanted to know if a fellow employee was pregnant. Our place does not tolerate that behavior. Chart audit time....

~Ivanna

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