I need some opinions. The other night I was helping out in PACU. (I am usually in ER or Preop, but occasionally go to PACU when needed) I was asked by another nurse to transport her patient upstairs. The patient was early 30's female, very nice, always saying thanks when people helped her. We talked as I took her to her room. She had surgery for a cancer recurrence, so we talked about the surgery, her young kids, her family, etc. It was shift change, so I ended up having to wait with her for quite a while to see her nurse, the PACU nurse has to have face to face time with the receiving floor nurse. During this time we chatted some more. Then I left when her nurse got there.
The next day I was off. I was thinking about this patient and how nice she was. I called her room to check on her. I just let her know I had been thinking about her, and asked how she was doing...get well soon, etc. She seemed very appreciative.
A few days later I told her PACU nurse that I had spoken with her. This nurse was very offended with me and said I had broken HIPPAA (sp?) laws by calling the patient to check on her. Is this true? I just thought I was being nice. When I had my daughter, the L&D nurse called the next day to check on me. I know hospitals can be lonely places and thought one might like to hear a friendly voice and know someone was thinking of them.
Take offense if you may but I make no apologies. The male nurses are not treated half as bad as the female nurses and as a male nurse I support my female nurses. Touchy, touchy.
Not touchy (there's a difference between finding something offensive and being offended), just have never needed someone to save me from myself. Not even my father acted so paternalistically and overstepped bounds that way.
What is behind the thought that male nurses have some kind of wisdom that the female nurses don't have?
Rachelita...you were 'right on the money' and did the right thing. You spoke to the patient and no one else, therefore communicating only with her, based on what you wrote. Therefore, I do not see how you could have violated HIPPA. Your supervisor is being an orifice...trust me, not all of them are in Nursing. In fact, some of them are Librarians!
Specializes in Peds/outpatient FP,derm,allergy/private duty.
I agree totally with CrunchRN and Lamazeteacher, as reflected in my previous posts in this thread. However, the "paranoia" being displayed, or the endless dissection and second-guessing of what appears to be a simple and kind gesture, didn't originate with perfectly normal, what is appropriate sensing human beings. It's unfair to lay it at their feet.
HIPAA has become a weapon in many ways. It has grown tenacles that corrupt natural human to human interactions and that is why some of us are making a HUGE deal about it. If I know a nurse has been fired for some seemingly innocent thing, yes I will tell her to be careful, because I don't want her to get fired or sanctioned, either!
Unfortunately, the lawsuit happy vultures and craven opportunists have sensed this weak spot of "HIPAA violations" and made some hay with it, prompting hospitals to create "HIPAA compliance" offices to sift through records and field complaints. I only know this from an experience I had last year when I went to a local ER. Apparently one of my friends called asking for info and someone told her that yes, I'd been there but had already left. That was it.
Apparently this person (don't even know who) got his/her day ruined in a big way for telling my friend that yes, I'd been there. I received multiple, extremely nervous and eager-to-please phone calls from the HIPAA lady. Well, she might just as well have stamped "grounds for lawsuit but please don't sue us" on her forehead. There must be a cottage industry burgeoning to hit up hospitals or they would never have been so transparently paranoid. No one li'l-meant-well friendly nurse is likely to survive long in such an atmosphere. Yes, it bites. I wish we could go back to the days of common sense and trust, too. But when the pocketbook is threatened, all bets are off.
Not touchy (there's a difference between finding something offensive and being offended), just have never needed someone to save me from myself. Not even my father acted so paternalistically and overstepped bounds that way.
What is behind the thought that male nurses have some kind of wisdom that the female nurses don't have?
Regards,
CuriousMe
(a woman who isn't passive)
You did not read in my post that male nurses have a wisdom that female nurses do not have nor have you read that male nurses need to protect female nurses. I'm simply saying 1. that male nurses are treated differently for whatever reason 2. that we should look out for and protect each other and I urge every nurse, male and female, to do so. It only happens to be true that I am male. I do not know what from high you are coming down nor do I need to know your problem. If you want an honest discussion listen to what is being said and do not take it personally. I have more important things to do than clarify or repeat myself. And I do not have to be politically correct either because I'm not running for office!
I agree totally with CrunchRN and Lamazeteacher, as reflected in my previous posts in this thread. However, the "paranoia" being displayed, or the endless dissection and second-guessing of what appears to be a simple and kind gesture, didn't originate with perfectly normal, what is appropriate sensing human beings. It's unfair to lay it at their feet.
HIPAA has become a weapon in many ways. It has grown tenacles that corrupt natural human to human interactions and that is why some of us are making a HUGE deal about it. If I know a nurse has been fired for some seemingly innocent thing, yes I will tell her to be careful, because I don't want her to get fired or sanctioned, either!
Unfortunately, the lawsuit happy vultures and craven opportunists have sensed this weak spot of "HIPAA violations" and made some hay with it, prompting hospitals to create "HIPAA compliance" offices to sift through records and field complaints. I only know this from an experience I had last year when I went to a local ER. Apparently one of my friends called asking for info and someone told her that yes, I'd been there but had already left. That was it.
Apparently this person (don't even know who) got his/her day ruined in a big way for telling my friend that yes, I'd been there. I received multiple, extremely nervous and eager-to-please phone calls from the HIPAA lady. Well, she might just as well have stamped "grounds for lawsuit but please don't sue us" on her forehead. There must be a cottage industry burgeoning to hit up hospitals or they would never have been so transparently paranoid. No one li'l-meant-well friendly nurse is likely to survive long in such an atmosphere. Yes, it bites. I wish we could go back to the days of common sense and trust, too. But when the pocketbook is threatened, all bets are off.
nurse156,
Thank you for sharing. You are right in all respects.
You did not read in my post that male nurses have a wisdom that female nurses do not have nor have you read that male nurses need to protect female nurses. I'm simply saying 1. that male nurses are treated differently for whatever reason 2. that we should look out for and protect each other and I urge every nurse, male and female, to do so. It only happens to be true that I am male. I do not know what from high you are coming down nor do I need to know your problem. If you want an honest discussion listen to what is being said and do not take it personally. I have more important things to do than clarify or repeat myself. And I do not have to be politically correct either because I'm not running for office!
Not high, thanks for your concern though. I've not taken anything personal, I'm merely trying to understand your point and make my point....isn't that what we do in discussion forums?
Not making things up either, I quote the point in your post I'm speaking of each time. I made my comments based on your post which said:
My concern is not for my wellbeing and it is not related to my own circumstances but as a fellow nurse who see and hear of the pain of my fellow nurses, especially the female ones who generally are passive I cannot stand by and allow them, because of their deep compassion to care for others, destroy themselves.
If you didn't mean that female nurses are passive....then I apologize for my misinterpretation of your remarks. Please clarify.
As adults in the workforce, we're not responsible for "protecting" anyone but our patients. They are the vulnerable population we deal with. Not female nurses.
Now, we are part of teams. We should support our team members, help them out. If they ask for council we should give it, so they can they make decisions based on their professional judgement. Another professional adult does not need me to protect them anymore than I need them to protect me.
Not high, thanks for your concern though. I've not taken anything personal, I'm merely trying to understand your point and make my point....isn't that what we do in discussion forums?
Not making things up either, I quote the point in your post I'm speaking of each time. I made my comments based on your post which said:
If you didn't mean that female nurses are passive....then I apologize for my misinterpretation of your remarks. Please clarify.
As adults in the workforce, we're not responsible for "protecting" anyone but our patients. They are the vulnerable population we deal with. Not female nurses.
Now, we are part of teams. We should support our team members, help them out. If they ask for council we should give it, so they can they make decisions based on their professional judgement. Another professional adult does not need me to protect them anymore than I need them to protect me.
Regards,
CuriousMe
(still a female, still not passive)
Hence the reason why it is said that nurses eat their young. Further, male nurses need protection too and I hope my fellow nurses will have my back and stop me, out of genuine concern, from doing something that may jeopardize my career. CuriousMe, we need each other, professional or not.
Hence the reason why it is said that nurses eat their young.
LOL, I'm sorry? Are you suggesting that the behavior I spoke of is an example of lateral violence (nurses, eating their young)?
We have different definitions. I'm suggesting that we should support and help each other; as colleagues use their professional judgement to make decisions for themselves. Which part of that is an example of lateral violence?
Further, male nurses need protection too and I hope my fellow nurses will have my back and stop me, out of genuine concern, from doing something that may jeopardize my career. CuriousMe, we need each other, professional or not.
We have different wishes, unless we were talking about putting a patient in danger (ie giving a wrong drug, unsafe dose, etc) as I would never presume to try and "stop" someone from doing what they believe to be right. They are professional adults, just as I am. There's no reason in the world that my judgement should supplant theirs.
Additionally, I would never welcome someone trying to "stop" me and supplanting their judgement over mine (again with the safety exclusion listed above). I always welcome council, always welcome hearing someone else's perspective, but my decisions are mine....as are the consequences.
Of course we need each other. That's why I said we're on a team. But each team member still has the responsibility to think and act for themselves. The professional team members are not part of the vulnerable population...the patients are. We should be striving to protect them....not each other. We should be supporting each other, helping each other, being there for each other... absolutely.
"Flame me all y'all want because I am really tough and I can certainly take it." Obviously you are looking for a fight not a discussion. This is not a yes or no question but one which asked for a discussion, hence this discussion page. You do not know whether or not HIPAA laws were violated and if the patient found it intrusive. It is only your uninformed opinion. Is it better to be on the side of caution or to have to explain one's action to one's employer, the BON, or worst the District Attorney? I urge nurses to be on the side of caution rather than having to hide in the thicket of the law. We all know that laws are always vague and so are HIPAA laws and one's future depends on who is interpreting the laws. Discussion is good and we have not gone outside the box. HELP PROTECT OUR NURSES!
(For some reason when I quoted it screwed up the formatting, so I bolded what the quote was.)
She's (I think the poster in question's a she - if not they can flame me :) ) not looking for a fight. She's expecting one. I've posted the same thing before. She's (!!) saying "bring it on if you want to, because I could care less".
Usually when someone posts that, the arrows are already being aimed at their opinion.
And since this is a discussion board, it's truly comprised of very little outside of "uninformed opinion" - so that's honestly a moot point.
Unfortunately, the lawsuit happy vultures and craven opportunists have sensed this weak spot of "HIPAA violations" and made some hay with it, prompting hospitals to create "HIPAA compliance" offices to sift through records and field complaints. I only know this from an experience I had last year when I went to a local ER. Apparently one of my friends called asking for info and someone told her that yes, I'd been there but had already left. That was it.
What's even more hilarious is that half the time the "HIPAA Compliance Office" can't correctly interpret the law they've been hired to enforce compliance to. The blind continue to lead the blind...
Specializes in Clinical Research, Outpt Women's Health.
"She's (I think the poster in question's a she - if not they can flame me :) ) not looking for a fight. She's expecting one. I've posted the same thing before. She's (!!) saying "bring it on if you want to, because I could care less"."
Yes and yes!
I totally understand that in todays world you have to be very careful and everyone absolutely should have everyone's co-workers back, but I also believe if you use common sense and good judgment you can show compassion and caring without jeopardizing your license or your employment.
That is the kind of nurse I choose to be and I think that is the kind of nurse the OP is and that is the kind of nurse I want for my family.
I think I will start calling it the HIPPO law. Cause it is one big fat beast that causes nothing but trouble!
It seems to me that it's quite appropriate to check labs on a patient for whom you have the possibility of being responsible for his/her care again. That is especially prudent if you collected a specimen for culture the day you gave him/her care. If you don't work in a teaching hospital, no one else may have reviewed the results for sensitivity to antibiotics..... and the patient's current antibiotic may not be appropriate...... A lot of doctors (even hospitalists) don't check labs, especially if they're taking call for another doc, on a weekend.
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CuriousMe
2,642 Posts
Not touchy (there's a difference between finding something offensive and being offended), just have never needed someone to save me from myself. Not even my father acted so paternalistically and overstepped bounds that way.
What is behind the thought that male nurses have some kind of wisdom that the female nurses don't have?
Regards,
CuriousMe
(a woman who isn't passive)