I know confidentiality is considered one of the most important things in medicine, but I learned from a friend working in another country how we in the west treat confidentiality, isn't necessarily right for everyone.
My friend is from Zimbabwe, but works with me here in Europe, and she told me what is was like when HIV really got hold of her home country. She describes how all the parents died, and the grandparents were left raising the grandchildren - she banded some of these grandmothers together and now has a charity helping children.
Anyway, she was saying that even when the WHO and other powers made effective medication free for many people in third world countries like hers, people kept on dying, when they shouldn't, especially young men.
She said a lot of the doctors treated patients like they would in the west, and when they first told a young man he was HIV positive, they would tell him in utmost confidence, and outline his treatment plan, and how to take his meds and when to have follow-up appointments and when to get extra help.
The men would leave, not take their meds, and eventually die.
My colleague and friend said confidentiality is different where she is, and you would never tell a young man or woman such a diagnosis, and would automatically involved the whole family. You wouldn't even ask if the family should be there, you would automatically tell them all to be there. Then the patient with HIV became not just a family issue, but a community/village one, and the outcomes suddenly reversed and people stopped dying. It also made a huge difference in stopping parents passing on the virus to their children.
I know in the west, to do something like this goes against everything we're taught. And I'm not saying one is more right than the other, as that is not the issue, but it was really interesting to hear such a significant cultural difference.
Anyway, I'm sure I'll be picked to pieces for this. But I genuinely think it quite fascinating and hope someone out there does to.
OK not sure where you have been working but having worked in a few hositals in the UK over the 80's and 90's we was never that. I also worked with male nurses and they worked very professionally and never did anything inappropriately.... And talking about 'letting everything hang out' I am sure the 'Sun' readers enjoyed seeing the page 3 model every day way back in the 80's in the UK
After traveling around the world and knowing that some other countries let it all hang out (so to speak) I know in general that Americans are considered somewhat prudish with their bodies/nudity/sexuality. I think nursingaround1 is looking for a reaction regardless of what his/her qualifications and experiences actually are. I'm just going to read, laugh at the strangeness of the situations and move on...
I think you continue to post here because you love to kick up controversy and get some sort of sick high by believing that nurses in America aren't professional enough to place urinary catheters for the opposite gendered client and then claim cultural misunderstandings to cover yourself.
i think you spend your spare time dreaming up wild tabloid-worthy stories of your many varied "nursing" experiences and then start other threads about how you feel stagnated in your profession.
I also believe that certain pharmacutical interventions exist for a reason
Is it not okay to be astonished? Perhaps that's why i am continuing to post. These cultural differences seem so small, but can make a big difference.
If I seemed a bit defensive, well, maybe I was, but it's a natural reaction when you get an unpleasant response when you were not expecting it.
I think you continue to post here because you love to kick up controversy and get some sort of sick high by believing that nurses in America aren't professional enough to place urinary catheters for the opposite gendered client and then claim cultural misunderstandings to cover yourself.
i think you spend your spare time dreaming up wild tabloid-worthy stories of your many varied "nursing" experiences and then start other threads about how you feel stagnated in your profession.
I also believe that certain pharmacutical interventions exist for a reason
Can we get some perspective here. I posted a completely neutral post, with nothing bad, just a thoughtful glimpse of a different culture, and basically people can't help but mock in some form or another. Any attempt at humour to make light of the unpleasant comments only makes things worse. Insight is so important, but rarely achieved.
Specializes in M/S, LTC, Corrections, PDN & drug rehab.
Can we get some perspective here. I posted a completely neutral post, with nothing bad, just a thoughtful glimpse of a different culture, and basically people can't help but mock in some form or another. Any attempt at humour to make light of the unpleasant comments only makes things worse. Insight is so important, but rarely achieved.
I think this was the only benevolent post you made. All of your others were ridiculous in some form or fashion. Many people, who have nothing in common, who live in different states & I believe even some people who don't even live in the US have notice how crazy your posts are. So it is you.
Specializes in psych, addictions, hospice, education.
Confidentiality is very different in places other than the USA. It's something for those of us who work in the USA to consider, when we have clients who aren't American, or who are from families that haven't been in our country for a few generations.
Family involvement is expected by those of many cultures. Families gather around in times of illness, for moral support and to offer input. Mothers are deeply involved in the care of their children, even adults, sometimes. Men are deeply involved in the care of their wives and unmarried daughters sometimes. Families are deeply involved in the care of the elders.
We can get our patients to agree for us to release information to their family members. If they won't do this, and even if they do, we need to be sensitive to the feelings of those who aren't that familiar with the confidentiality policies of American healthcare. We need to explain the policies as well.
It takes a whole family to raise a person in some cultures, and to keep him or her healthy and happy. Sometimes the whole village is expected to be involved as well...
Can we get some perspective here. I posted a completely neutral post, with nothing bad, just a thoughtful glimpse of a different culture, and basically people can't help but mock in some form or another. Any attempt at humour to make light of the unpleasant comments only makes things worse. Insight is so important, but rarely achieved.
Multiple times, I, and other posters, have given solid advice on how to shake the drama. You have largely, repeatedly, ignored this advice. I'm at the point that I believe you do this expecting (wanting, perhaps) the drama.
I'm really not sure what it is you are hoping to gain by all of this. Entertainment? Attention? Regardless, it is completely unreasonable to expect people not to be exasperated by the frequent odd posts you make. You know what you're doing. You know how people respond.
Multiple times, I, and other posters, have given solid advice on how to shake the drama. You have largely, repeatedly, ignored this advice. I'm at the point that I believe you do this expecting (wanting, perhaps) the drama.
I'm really not sure what it is you are hoping to gain by all of this. Entertainment? Attention? Regardless, it is completely unreasonable to expect people not to be exasperated by the frequent odd posts you make. You know what you're doing. You know how people respond.
I wonder what's in store for nursingaround1...the MO is to passive-aggressively post that he is not being offensive.
I did plan on posting the main reason why we have confidentiality because in the past, medical histories were used against them and reiterate what several posters have stated, until I realized that nursingaround1 is basically thriving off being offensive.
I know I'm supposed to engage in healthy debate, but when posters start to spout stereotypes about nurses, I have to wonder if this person is just some FAKER who is thriving off of effing around on a nurses website as a part of some twisted fantasy or even some disdain for nurses entirely-nurse or no nurse credentials.
Specializes in Med-Surg, OB, ICU, Public Health Nursing.
You sound shocked. That means you most likely haven't been around health care very long.
Back in the 70s and 80s, every floor in a hospital had a chalk board prominently displayed at the Nurses' station. On that board were the room numbers, full name, diagnosis and physician of every patient.
Chart forms were on a clip board at the foot of every bed.
There was no EMR, physical charts were in a chart rack, or more often, strewn about the Nurses' station, easily accessible by anyone.
So, to answer your question; No, prior to HIPAA there was no concept (and no expectation) of patient confidentiality.
We began to be concerned about confidentiality with the AIDS crisis. In the beginning of the AIDS epidemic, no one was allowed to document the HIV status of the patient. You could write pneumocystis carinii or another related diagnosis but never the HIV status. It was ridiculous but that's how it was in the old days.
I wonder what's in store for nursingaround1...the MO is to passive-aggressively post that he is not being offensive.
I did plan on posting the main reason why we have confidentiality because in the past, medical histories were used against them and reiterate what several posters have stated, until I realized that nursingaround1 is basically thriving off being offensive.
I know I'm supposed to engage in healthy debate, but when posters start to spout stereotypes about nurses, I have to wonder if this person is just some FAKER who is thriving off of effing around on a nurses website as a part of some twisted fantasy or even some disdain for nurses entirely-nurse or no nurse credentials.
I don't feed off anything, although I do get a bit annoyed at the responses, but then I get over it. As for offending people and stereotypes, well, when I trained, nurses had a pretty raunchy reputation, sometimes deserved, sometimes not, although the young nurses seemed to feed off the behaviour of the senior nurses, and whenever a police or fireman came to hospital in uniform, they certainly played up to the stereotype of loving man in uniform.
Of course I know nurses are about as varied a bunch as you can get, I'm not stupid. What I do find interesting is how easily offended people get, and obviously any attempts at sarcasm or humour go completely missed, so I won't bother with that.
^^^We totally appreciate humor and so many members here have a hilarious sarcastic wit. Because we tend to have a highly developed sense of humor, we won't laugh when things aren't, well, funny.
Hoosier_RN, MSN
3,968 Posts
After traveling around the world and knowing that some other countries let it all hang out (so to speak) I know in general that Americans are considered somewhat prudish with their bodies/nudity/sexuality. I think nursingaround1 is looking for a reaction regardless of what his/her qualifications and experiences actually are. I'm just going to read, laugh at the strangeness of the situations and move on...