Patient privacy power point

1. PROTECTING PATIENT PRIVACY
AND CONFIDENTIALITY
BY WANDA SANDERS

2. OVERVIEW
• Confidentiality is the right of an individual to have personal, identifiable
medical information kept private. Such information should be available only
to the physician of record and other health care and insurance personnel as
necessary.
• Patient confidentiality means that personal and medical information given
to a health care provider will not be disclosed to others unless the
individual has given specific permission for such release.
• Health care organizations should have comparable confidentiality and
security polices; implement security controls over sensitive patient
information (e.g., HIV status, pregnancy termination, and history of mental
health problems or drug and alcohol abuse); maintain good system security;
train staff and secure agreements concerning confidentiality and security.
• This presentation will provide recommended strategies on how to
improve and ensure patient privacy and confidentiality.

3. STRATEGY’S 1 AND 2
1. PERFORM REGULAR AND RANDOM PRIVACY AUDITS
Privacy audits start by identifying ways personal health information is
collected, stored, and transmitted within health care organizations such as a
doctor’s office or hospital. A walk through of every process should be performed
from registration to discharge from the perspective of employees and
patients, observing every verbal exchange, paper form, and computer entry.
There should be an evaluation of existing processes for ways that privacy could
be breached and correct any deficiencies as necessary.
2. TRAIN STAFF ON HIPPA REGULATIONS
Staff members should be trained and able to articulate the scope of HIPPA
regulations, describe examples of personal health information and differentiate
between authorized and unauthorized disclosures. In addition to training every
new hire on HIPPA compliance, seasoned staff members should complete
continuing education regarding HIPPA guidelines yearly. Using role
playing examples of scenarios will make training more relevant and memorable.

4. STRATEGY’S 3 AND 4
3. USE OF COMPUTERS
Computers should face away from view and contain peripheral “privacy
shields.” If patient charts are not in use they should be closed or flipped
over, charts should never be left in exam rooms, and if staff has to move
away from a task, the patient’s chart should never be left unattended.
4. HAVE ELECTRIC SHREDDER OR LOCKED SHRED BINS AVAILABLE
Documents containing personal health information that are no longer
needed should be shredded and disposed in proper containers. Documents
should never be left in the trash. If shred bins are used, they should be
locked and a reputable mobile shredding service should empty bins on a
regular basis.

5. STRATEGY’S 5 AND 6
5. LIMIT CONVERSATIONS ABOUT PATIENT HEALTH INFORMATION
Staff should always be aware of who is around them and what
information could be overheard. If it is necessary to discuss a patient’s
health information, communications should be deferred to areas where
patients and visitors cannot overhear. Such communications should be at
a controlled volume. Health information should be strictly on a “need to
know” basis for doing one’s job. Staff should never pursue patient charts
out of curiosity or gossip about a patient’s health or services received.
6. REQUIRE INDIVIDUAL PASSWORDS AND ACTIVIATE SCREEN SAVERS
Staff members will have unique and confidential individual password
access to the applications they are authorized to use and staff should
never be permitted to share passwords. Three minutes of computer
inactivity will activate a “screen saver” to conceal any personal health
information; once inactive users will have to re-enter passwords to
resume work.

6. STRATEGY 7
7. CONSIDER AND ACT UPON PATIENT COMMENTS
Patients may not know the details of HIPPA and what constitutes an
unauthorized disclosure, they are sensitive and will often make comments
about activities and processes they feel may compromise their privacy.
Patient concerns will always be taken seriously, evaluated and acted upon if
appropriate. For example, if a patient believes others can hear his
communication with staff, a solution may be to construct a privacy barrier
or ask the patient to step into an office or exam room to discuss their
concerns.

7. conclusion
Patient confidentiality is one of the most important pillars of medicine.
Protecting the private details of a patient is not just a matter of moral
respect, it is essential in retaining the important bond of trust between
health care professionals and their patients. The relationship between
health care professionals and their patients/clients centers on trust, and
trust is dependent on the patient/client being confident that personal
information they disclose is treated confidentially