The purpose of this discussion is for you to investigate healthcare privacy breaches and the associated risks and the ethical and legal issues confronted as a DNP-prepared nurse. Privacy breaches are serious offenses that negatively affect the trust between nurses and patients. To maintain this trust, nurses must maintain the privacy and security of patient information.
Instructions
Reflect on the following two scenarios related to the protection of health information.
- Scenario 1: A staff nurse posted the following comment on her social media page: “Can this shift be any longer? It started out with a waiting room full of nagging people who don’t seem to know what ‘emergency’ means. Then, I had to deal with the drama of trying to transfer a 400 lbs. (no joke) intubated chronic obstructive pulmonary disease patient down the hall to the intensive care unit. Those intensive care unit nurses are such divas, and I wasn’t in the mood for their whining. Someone help!”
- Analyze the privacy and security issues related to this social media posting.
- Scenario 2: A nurse practitioner is preparing a presentation poster for an infectious disease conference. She includes pictures of varying stages of a client’s lesions in the poster.
- Analyze the privacy and security issues related to the inclusion of patient information on the poster.
