NURS 6052 Evidence Based Practice Competing Needs Healthcare Issue Essay

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Patient Privacy and Confidentiality in Health

Shant’a Straughter
Dr. Cathern Velasquez
PMHNP Student
NURS 6053 Interprofessional Organizational and Systems Leadership
Walden University
3/1/21

Patient Privacy and Confidentiality in Health

In today’s healthcare ethics and reforms, a patient’s privacy and confidentiality have become a major source of concern and discussion. This has been sparked by the recent digitalization of health information in different healthcare environments, such as hospitals and clinics, using clinical systems such as electronic health records (EHR). Physicians and hospitals are embracing electronic health records (EHRs) because they provide many advantages over paper records (Graham, Olson & Howard, NURS 6052 Evidence Based Practice Competing Needs Healthcare Issue Essay 2016).

They increase health-care coverage, improve efficiency, and reduce costs. EHRs, on the other hand, raise ethical concerns for health practitioners concerning patient privacy. In the context of healthcare, privacy refers to what you tell your healthcare provider, what they write down for you, any medications you take, and any other personal details. NURS 6052 Evidence Based Practice Competing Needs Healthcare Issue Essay

Patients have a legal right to privacy, and there are rules that govern how health-care services gather and store information about your health, as well as when and how they use and exchange that information. Patients’ privacy must be respected not only in order to respect their right to privacy, but also in order to establish a professional relationship between patients and healthcare providers (Graham, Olson & Howard, 2016). In order to report their medical condition honestly, patients must feel comfortable with the nurse and other health professionals.

Patients may falsify or withhold information that is critical to their treatment if they do not feel trusted. Besides, patients within our organizations were far more comfortable with the use of anonymized data for analysis (data with obvious identifiers removed) than with completely identifiable data, which creates confusion in management of patient data. Also, patients were less willing to share information with health practitioners about “sensitive” issues like mental wellbeing. NURS 6052 Evidence Based Practice Competing Needs Healthcare Issue Essay

Article Summary 1

According to ASHA’s article “Issues in Ethics: Confidentiality” Professionals in health care delivery fields have legal and ethical obligations to protect the privacy and confidentiality of information about the clients in their care. The author considers the confidentiality and privacy of information about clients, patients, students, and study subjects to be a moral duty, rather than a legal or workplace necessity. Since written documents are more durable and reproducible than spoken material, the author raises additional concerns about the security and handling of paper files or computerized records. NURS 6052 Evidence Based Practice Competing Needs Healthcare Issue Essay

The author considers the confidentiality and privacy of information about clients, patients, students, and study subjects to be a moral duty, rather than a legal or workplace necessity. Since written documents are more durable and reproducible than spoken material, the author raises additional concerns about the security and handling of paper files or computerized records.

As a result of the digitization of information, these issues and challenges have become more complex and severe. Confidentiality breaches may happen as a result of how records are made, processed, or transmitted. To address the problem of patient privacy and confidentiality, the author proposes that professionals not make, update, or store information on personal electronic devices (such as computers, mobile phones, and flash drives) or personal online accounts (ASHA, 218). NURS 6052 Evidence Based Practice Competing Needs Healthcare Issue Essay

Besides, if a workplace is aware of and permits such off-site record handling, privacy protections such as password authentication and anonymized client identifications should be strictly adhered to. In public areas such as coffee shops or on public transit, records on portable devices cannot be opened and read.

In addition, the author proposed that healthcare facilities should have written policies in place about client data. Workplace records management policies should usually address: record ownership and record access—both in terms of staff who can read and manipulate the record and in terms of client rights of access (ASHA, 218). These rules must be followed without exception. Failure to comply with the provisions intended to protect client records puts not only the client’s health in jeopardy, but also the practitioner’s integrity and legal liability at risk.

Article Summary 2 NURS 6052 Evidence Based Practice Competing Needs Healthcare Issue Essay

Chaminda, in her article, “Ethical Issues Surrounding the Use of Information in Health Care” comprehensively examines the ethical issues posed by the use of patients’ information for medical and other reasons, including patient privacy and confidentiality. NURS 6052 Evidence Based Practice Competing Needs Healthcare Issue Essay

Health data is primarily used to provide high-quality health services, such as discovering new therapies and diagnosing new diseases based on studies (Chaminda, 2014). A violation of the same health records, on the other hand, may harm patients in a variety of ways. Sensitive medical details can have an impact on a patient’s employment, ability to obtain insurance, new job prospects, or result in other negative consequences.

Chaminda suggests two critical solutions that healthcare facilities should use to preserve the privacy and confidentiality of patients’ records. To begin, the government should use regulations to ensure that all organizations follow the same rules and provide equal protection to patients. Finally, as a precaution for the security of ethical problems in health information, organizations should enforce the use of multilevel, individual passwords for all users (Chaminda, 2014). NURS 6052 Evidence Based Practice Competing Needs Healthcare Issue Essay

Generally, the strategies for solving the issue of patient privacy and confidentiality discussed in these articles include the use of written policy concerning the use of patient’s data, password authentication, and implementation of government legislations on patient data. These solutions may positively impact my organization because they will guarantee protection of patient data from falling into the wrong hands. On the negative side, the implementation of these solutions will financially derail the organization.

NURS 6052 Evidence Based Practice Competing Needs Healthcare Issue Essay References

ASHA. (218). Issues in Ethics: Confidentiality. Retrieved from: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/228830239_Ethical_Issues_Surrounding_the_Use_of_Information_in_Health_Care
Chaminda Chiran. (2014). (PDF) Ethical issues surrounding the use of information in health care. ResearchGate. Retreived from: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/228830239_Ethical_Issues_Surrounding_the_Use_of_Information_in_Health_Care
Graham, J., Olson, R., & Howard, R. (Eds.). (2016). Cybersecurity essentials. CRC Press.