Was this unethical of me?

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Was this unethical of me?

I'm a support staffer, and recently while charting on a patient, I thought, very quickly, "I wonder how old this person is." The person's age was literally right there on my record,  by their name, so I glanced at it, and then felt guilty. Ages of patients are routinely listed by their names, but I feel badly because I didn't need to know the age, it was personal curiosity. Was this glance unethical?

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Ummm....knowing a patients age actually is very important information to have...

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Thanks, I guess I feel conflicted because I, in my role as support staff, didn't "need to know" the age.

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Specializes in OR, Nursing Professional Development.

Name and date of birth are standard patient identifiers, since two unique identifiers should be used. So yes, you kind of do need to know.

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Specializes in NICU, PICU, Transport, L&D, Hospice.
Hopefulone said:

I'm a support staffer, and recently while charting on a patient, I thought, very quickly, "I wonder how old this person is." The person's age was literally right there on my record,  by their name, so I glanced at it, and then felt guilty. Ages of patients are routinely listed by their names, but I feel badly because I didn't need to know the age, it was personal curiosity. Was this glance unethical?

How did you identify the patient?

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By name, mostly, and there were other factors that made me sure I had the right person when I offered support to them.  I didn't read their age before speaking to them, but later, while charting, after my curiosity led me to glance at it (which again, was right there for staff like me to see). I guess I'm feeling a bit snoopy because what drove me to look at the age was my own momentary curiosity rather than a need to know from a professional/work reason. I know I was privvy to the info, as all who are involved in a person's care are, but I feel a bit compromising because I looked at that age. I guess my real question might be: are those who work in healthcare allowed a certain level of personal curiosity that allows for such things? 

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Specializes in CRNA, Finally retired.

How could this be unethical?  If you have legitimate access to this person't chart and you are personally caring for this patient, you NEED to know how old the patient is.  Are they 60 years old but look like they are 90?  That's important.  What would be unethical is you telling a visitor or someone else not involved in this patient's care, the patient's age.

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well, it's the "need to know" issue versus my own curiosity. I know that many folks involved in direct medical care would "need to know" the person's age, and in a larger sense I suppose that anyone involved in their holistic care would/should be aware so that we're sure that the person matches the name/age. But I as a support staffer (and not a medical professional), while having access to a patient's record, usually don't pay attention to their ages so much. My thought when I quickly looked at the age was, "Hmm, I wonder how old this person is" and again, it was just my own curiosity. Since I have the access to the patient's info, seeing the age wasn't "wrong" per se, but it was my personal wondering that makes me pause. So, I think I'll chock this up to simple human behavior that didn't violate anything, and keep on trucking ?

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Specializes in Peds/outpatient FP,derm,allergy/private duty.
Hopefulone said:

Thanks, I guess I feel conflicted because I, in my role as support staff, didn't "need to know" the age.

This is one thing that has changed since the advent of HIPAA, which is still able to induce panic in people. In support staff as in your concern "did I need to know that?", and in employers because they fear lawsuits.

I would not call curiosity about some detail of a patient's personal profile evidence of a character flaw on your part. Normally such interest is motivated by a desire to see the patient as a whole person. That's not a bad thing.

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Thank you. I guess I'm not entirely sure about my motivation (or personal curiosity). It was just a random question ("I wonder how old they are") and easy enough to see the answer there. I thank you for understanding, and understanding the "panic", which is how I usually feel when something like this happens :)!

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Specializes in RNA.

How can you give a patient the care they specifically need if you know nothing about them? Anyone part of a patients care team should have knowledge of that patient according to the role they play at the very least. Anything less is careless. 

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Specializes in Community health.

Honestly, it is hard to differentiate idle curiosity from "need to know" sometimes.  I was working as a school nurse, and I saw a note in a child's chart about a tragedy that their family experienced.  I was really curious about it.  To justify it, I could say that as the nurse, I need to know the patient's background, so that I can be appropriately supportive (which is true).  I could also say that I have a prurient interest when I hear about a tragedy in my small town (which is also true).  Now, I didn't violate any privacy rules, but if I had, it would sort of be between me and Jesus whether I really "needed to know" all that info.

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