We Can, But Dare We?: Chosen Scenario Conclusion, HIPAA Regulatory Requirements

We can, but Dare we?
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Chamberlain College of Nursing
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We can, but Dare We?
Smartphones and Social Media can be a very helpful tool in the day-to-day living of individuals. Its practicality transcends to almost every part of a person’s daily life from cooking, dining, information search, networking, and to what was considered “esoteric” and “highly specialized” practices before such as healthcare. However, the rise of social media consumption and the usage of these portable devices are not without any risks. In fact, these risks are not just simple ones but are rather very extensive and costly for the part of heath care providers when it happens. According to AHC Media (2016), the most severe issue for healthcare providers is the risk of having a “security breach.” This refers to a hacker getting personal data and other hospital records from the hospital’s database and probably disseminating the information to somebody else. Due to this, security and protection have been intensified to prepare against these types of risks. However, it should also be noted that small breaches and leak of information can be dire for the organization. To get a proper view of this, a scenario is presented below about breach a violation of “patient privacy” that happened in the hospital setting due to an improper misuse of confidential files and photos (more precisely, a selfie with an unconscious patient). The scenario would be presented briefly in the succeeding section, and an analysis of a probable ending would be discussed based on the guidelines submitted by the Health Insurance Portability and Privacy Act (HIPAA). Then, the next chapter would then be devoted to the benefits and disadvantages of smartphones and the social media in healthcare practice.
Chosen Scenario Conclusion
In the list of possible scenarios that happened, the author has focused on the one where another nurse finds the pictures in the patient’s bedside table. In reality, the most probable conclusion to this scenario is that the day nurse would disseminate the information in exchange for a monetary reward. However, there is also the possibility that it would not end to this, more specifically if the night nurse is a close colleague of the second one. But, assuming that the day nurse disseminated the information, this would not only cause damages to the nurse who took the pictures but to the hospital in general as well. A civil lawsuit against the provider would most probably follow if the side of ‘Jerod’ can prove that there’s damage that was inflicted on him, since if he cannot, then filing would not be easy – per HIPAA regulation states (Brody, 2016).
HIPAA Regulatory Requirements
According to HIPAA Regulation, a patient (or even an employee) can have the organization responsible if his/her private information is leaked and viewed by other individuals. In the case where this information is used in a way that is damaging to the patient, he ...