1. What, if anything, do you think Connie should communicate to her colleague?
2. Do you believe Connie's colleague was correct in posting patient pictures?
3. Considering the information was shared only with other health professionals and that the patient name was not shared, do you believe there was a breech in confidentiality?
9 comments:
Great Blog by the way. The issue with the picture is that the patient has not consented to the picture being taken therefore is a breech of confidentiality even though she felt that it was only communicated to her colleagues.
Susanne
Susanne, I agree with you 100%. Although the individuals he is sharing pateint information with are health care providers, they are not in this patients direct circle of care and his communications are breeching patient confidentiality. My advise to him would be to remove the pictures and any other information pertaining to the patient ASAP.
The pateint has a right to control the circulation of personal information about himself (Weitz, Drummond,Pringle, Ferris, et al., 2003.
Cindy
I agree with Suzanne and Cindy; it is a breach of patient confidentiality and privacy.
Sue
P.S. Great Blog!!
What about the collegue posting his frustrations on facebook regarding the staff shortages at work? Do you feel there are any issues around posting workplace frustrations on a social networking site like facebook?
What are some potential problems, if any, related to this form of communication?
Thanks for all your comments so far; interesting discussions!
Laura
I also agree that by posting pictures of the patient without consent is a breech of confidentiality as well as just bad taste!! My advice as well would be to remove the picture and any other details about the patient right away. As far as discussing workplace frustrations, no..I don't think it is the proper avenue to discuss this topic, however it is a personal opinion and choice to disclose this information. I might suggest to this particualr person that they might want to discuss their work related frustrations with their employer face to face rather than online. Seems to me, problems might get worse and not better using this type of medium! Cathy
Posting concerns and issues about places of employment on line is a risky practice as far as I can see.
I know that we had a new grad in my place of employment who was bloging her work issues on line. I know that she was repremanded and reminded that on hire she signed an employment record which indicated that employees would speak positively about the employer.This in itself is an interesting concept !
Cindy
Even though the colleague in question may have thought that she was sharing with other healthcare professionals, these sites are not secure. Therefore, there is a great potential for breaches in patient privacy and confidentiality. In addition, if the patient's consent was not obtained for the picture to be used in this specific manner, it is illegal to use it as such.
Renee
Great comments Cathy,Cindy and Renee! We can also look at this from the employer's perspective. Employee frustration at the workplace is more than likely directed at management. Could voicing this in a public forum such as this be viewed as insubordination?
Jennifer
1. What, if anything, do you think Connie should communicate to her colleague?
Connie should tell her colleague that this is unacceptable and unethical behaviour. The colleague should review the code of ethics. As some of you already noted, this individual obviously is unaware of the lack of security of the website, and the breach of confidentiality and privacy that posting an unauthorized photo involves.
2. Do you believe Connie's colleague was correct in posting patient pictures?
No, this is a definite breach of confidentiality. Can you imagine some health care provider whipping out his or her phone/camera and taking a secret shot of your perineum or such, to show how poor the pericare was due to short-staffing? It is totally unacceptable, whatever the intention.
3. Considering the information was shared only with other health professionals and that the patient name was not shared, do you believe there was a breech in confidentiality?
Yes. This is not the mode or venue. I am not sure anything other than face-to-face discussion would be appropriate to discuss these concerns. What do you tink?
- Madeleine
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