Patient Privacy and Confidentiality Nursing Essay

Patient Privacy and Confidentiality Nursing Essay

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Nurses have the opportunity to defend and protect patient rights, to promote compassionate care, and to enhance the dignity and the autonomy of their patients or clients (Keatings, & Smith, 2010). As nurses we are often required to choose from among a number of good or “least wrong” alternatives and to also assess and defend the choices made or actions taken (Keatings, & Smith, 2010).

Furthermore, nurses are faced with ethical issues everyday in the healthcare setting and dealing with these challenges are or may be difficult, so how does a nurse decide on what is the right thing to do? It is important to know that when dealing with ethical issues it entails skills in the process of critical thinking, value clarification, ethical decision making, self-awareness, and empowerment (Burkhardt, & Nathaniel, 1998). According to the ANA Code of Ethics (2001) and the CNA Code of Ethics (1997) states that nurses are to maintain the confidentiality of patient information (Burkhardt, & Nathaniel, 1998).

Confidentiality is the ethical principle that requires nondisclosure of private or secret information with which one is entrusted with (Burkhardt, & Nathaniel, 1998). On the other hand, privacy is the right of individuals to keep information about them from being disclosed (). So, it should be left with the patients to decide on who, when, and where to share their health information.

Confidentiality is how we, as nurses, treat private information once it has been disclosed to others or ourselves (). So, this disclosure of information usually results from a relationship of trust (), and nurses are entrusted with this private information.

Personal health information is considered any type of information that identifies a patient and their overall health condition/status or medical history (CNO, 2008a). It is important to keep the patient’s health information confidential and private because it provides protection for the patient from any type of harm (Mulligan & Branunack-Mayer, 2004), also it contributes to public protection. With these guidelines, it helps reminder nurses of their accountabilities and what the public expects f rom the nurses (CNO, 2008a).

In Marion’s situation, she was experiencing an ethical dilemma of whether or not she should freely disclose information regarding a resident in the nursing home to family friends from her hometown.

Before Marion discloses any information to anyone, she must remember that the nursing profession have guidelines of nursing standards and codes of conduct all of which states that it is part of a nurse’s scope of nursing practice to abide and follow these guidelines in regards to protecting the patient’s privacy and confidentiality of their health care information.

Marion is from a small town, where everyone knows each other and because of that it resulted in Marion’s family friends to asked about a close friend’s health condition out of deep concern. Despite the fact that Marion is from a small town, it was wrong of Marion’s colleagues to say there wasn’t any problem in giving away patient information. In fact, in the Practice Standard: Ethics (2008b), nurses need to ensure that all personal health information remains private and confidential at all times.

So, it is evident that the nursing home that Marion works at was not following proper guidelines of the nursing standards in regards to patient privacy and confidentiality.

It is stated in the Nursing Homes Act (1990), that nursing homes have the responsibility of ensuring confidentiality and security of residents’ personal records. It is important for nursing homes or any other medical facilities to have policies and procedures in regards to patient privacy and resident’s confidentiality.

Nurses should sign some sort of agreement form which entitles them to fully act in accordance in safeguarding all residents’ health information (PHIPA, 2004). However, at any time in disclosing any sort of personal health information, the Personal Health Information Protection Act (PHIPA) requires to obtain consent from the resident or from any capable person (also known as a substitute decision-maker) who the resident has authorized in writing or verbally to represent them during the time of their nursing care (Cavoukian, 2005).

In the past, as nurses graduated an oath (Nightingale Pledge) was recited which discussed confidentiality, “I will do all in my power to elevate the standard of my profession and will hold in confidence all personal matters committed to my keeping and all family affairs coming to my knowledge in my practice of my profession” (Burkhardt, & Nathaniel, 1998).

Thus, maintaining confidentially of the patient’s information is an expression of respect of that person and, in many ways, is essential to the nurse-patient relationship (Burkhardt, & Nathaniel, 1998). All in all, nursing standards should apply to all nurses regardless of their role, job description, or area of practice (CNO, 2008a), and one’s ability to maintain privacy in someone’s life is also expression of autonomy (Burkhardt, & Nathaniel, 1998). Autonomy means self-determination, the right to make independent dec

Patient Privacy and Confidentiality Nursing Essay