What is your policy on giving patient info over the phone?

[AnnaN5]

What is your facilities policy on giving information to family/friends over the phone? Do you have the patient/family set up a password or use some other way in order to be sure that is someone who should really be receiving info? I am on a work group for our facility to write a housewide policy. Currently each floor seems to be doing something different which causes problems if a patient gets transferred to another floor or if they have a future stay on a different floor. Any info would be great!

[Anna Flaxis, BSN, RN]

No medical information is given over the phone at my facility.

[PediLove2147, BSN, RN]

This past weekend my father was in the ER. No one knew what had happened just that he was being transferred to the larger hospital in our state. Since he wasn't answering his cell phone I called the local hospital. All I said was that I was his daughter and anything she could tell me would be helpful. She told me everything! I was relieved to be informed but surprised at how easy it was to get the information. Apparently that hospital had no policies in place

[canesdukegirl, BSN, RN]

I am frequently the charge nurse for a busy OR. Late in the day, I get calls from concerned family members who are asking for an update. I explain to them (in a very sympathetic tone) that privacy laws are so strict nowadays, and I can't even tell them if the pt they are calling about is even in the hospital. I ask for their name and phone number and then tell them that I will get back to them. This way, I am not divulging any information AT ALL. I am simply telling them that I will get back to them.

More times than not, there are family members in the waiting room. I look at the pt's chart to find out the name of the pt 'representative family member'. I then go to the waiting room and call out THAT person's name. I give the name and phone number of the caller to the family member and let them decide on behalf of the patient if they should contact the caller.

[Riseupandnurse]

When my aunt was in the hospital in Illinois they would not give info over the phone even to her POA, my step-mother. My step-mother had to physically come to the hospital to receive information. She lived in town but I think it was over the top. However, better than our system where the patient lists 4 or 5 people we can talk to, that info is kept in the charts, and we have to drop what we're doing and go get the chart to find out if the person is listed. And we don't really know who we're talking to for sure then anyway.

[assidere]

We keep a report/hand-off sheet with the chart, and any people listed on it are allowed to receive any info.

Also, we allow families to set up a password, and anyone calling with it can get any info.

No names + no password = no info give over the phone

[AnnaN5]

Thanks everyone for your input so far!