More on Confidentiality

For an amusing and pertinent cartoon regarding an issue of medical record keeping and hospital confidentiality click the link below.


"Someday we hope to have a nationwide database containing everyone's medical records so that they can become as readily accessible as, well, a hospital Johnny"

The hospital is a place where you might get better from your illness but you are almost surely to lose a bit of your privacy. Two bed or more wards are still around and talking privately in that environment to your doctor, nurse or family can be very difficult. Though some care is taken to keep your chart and its contents confidential, you still will see it, at times,lying about at the nurses station or elsewhere,casually accessible. Federal HIPAA privacy regulations restrict the nurses from telling medical information to family or others who are not identified as the primary recipient of the information but this may be difficult with unaccepting family or others. Family or strangers may inadvertently hear details about the patient while riding in the elevator with talking hospital staff. If you are an employee or physician who becomes a patient in your own hospital, privacy and confidentiality becomes almost impossible to maintain. Finally, those gowns..those gowns that seem to always open in the back..
Hospitals want to be exemplary models of patient privacy and confidentiality in order to pass their certification requirements. You can help. If you see defects in the system, bring it to the attention of staff or administration. ..Maurice.