Patient Confidentiality Essay

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| Patient Confidentiality | Introduction to Nursing | | Patient Confidentiality This essay will define confidentiality, when patient confidentiality applies, the importance of patient confidentiality and how to promote confidentiality. It will further look at the main legislation governing patient confidentiality (HIPAA) and when the patient confidentiality can be breached. Patient Confidentiality is very important for a number of reasons and what I feel is the most important of them all is that it improves the nurse – patient relationship. If a patient is aware of how well his or her nurse is committed to protecting their privacy, it builds trust and respect. The trust and respect between the patient and nurse will increase. With increased trust comes improved conversation, the patient may tell her/him more things that may be useful in developing a faster treatment for the patient. AccorConfidentiality protects private patient information once it has been disclosed in a health care setting. (Perry, Hall, 2013, p.780). It is the duty of the nurses to help protect patients’ right to confidentiality in an organization. Patient’s confidentiality may be violated when nurses or student nurses openly discuss patient information in the cafeteria, hallways and other public places. It is the duty of the nurse or whoever comes in contact with patient information to prevent unnecessary disclosure of patient data and also assess information that is needed to perform their duty. There are certain times when patient confidentiality should be applied. Patient Confidentiality should apply when a nurse or others need to gain access to patient information, especially when the patient information may include basic identifiers for patients past, present or future physical and mental health conditions. Confidentiality also applies when giving

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