Best Practices Around Nurse-Patient Privacy and Confidentiality

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The preservation of patient confidentiality is of great importance in the nursing profession. Thanks to the forthcoming and present technological developments, their security has been threatened. Privacy has become a question of professionalism from the nurses and the trust of patients. The secret to this is the continuous and successful communication between health professionals and their patients.

Importance of Preservation

The operation of saving information regarding patients and keeping patient confidentiality safe has been altered by the ever-developing technology. That means apart from the ordinary use of paper documents, the professionals responsible for safeguarding this information also store it online on computers, faxes, phones and every other contemporary manner of accessing information.

Access to this information is given to every professional in the medical facility in order to provide treatment quickly to the patient, which leads to patients being worried about their privacy; therefore, a friction between doctors and patients may appear.

While it might sound exaggerated, if information are misplaced outside of the medical facility, this may be detrimental to the patients, especially if it comes down to the patient’s work place, his or her relationships, representation in the media, and so on. The heavier the medical condition is, the worse the effects could be.

Protecting Patient’s Rights

Patient confidentiality can be protected through the American Nurses Association. The rules they have set up ensure that the privacy and the rights of the patients are strictly respected. The essence of privacy preservation is that the patient decides on what piece of information gets announced.

The patient should make the call and once he or she decides how far the news about a certain condition can go, it is the doctor’s obligation to make sure that things happen according to the patient’s desire. Furthermore, confidentiality regarding the conditions of the patient should be kept not only in regards to the diseases/illnesses/problems for which the patient has been treated, but also all other health peculiarities and details.

The patient should be given access at all times to all of his or her personal medical information, regardless of its nature. This allows the patient to make the right decision regarding his or her lifestyle, and it will also assist the improvement of his or her condition. The more interaction and valuable information is provided from doctors to nurses to the patient, the more the patient will learn to effectively cope with his or her condition.

Naturally, the necessary documentation should be presented to the patient in a professional and appropriate way. An exception to the routine is when the patient’s life is in danger or in other exceptional circumstances. Otherwise, keeping patient confidentiality shouldn’t be just a matter of doctor ethics; it should be a legally protected right and backed up by the medical facility.

Nursing Times is an article, confirming the full rights of the patient over his or her medical information.