Confidentiality Flashcards
Why is confidentiality important?
- Legal reasons
- Respect for persons
- Vulnerability
Legal reasons:
There are federal and financial laws that respect patient privacy
Respect for persons:
- It develops the TR
- Understanding patient risk because of psychiatric illness
- We assume the patient is autonomous, the reason we respect them
Vulnerability:
a. the patient’s body (relational ethics) = the body needs privacy to be respected
b. information about them = health information needs more protection
What is the difference between privacy and confidentiality ?
Privacy is the type of information (public vs private)*
Confidentiality is what happens to the information*
PRIVACY IS A PATIENT RIGHT:
The patient decides how much of their body they want to show you
The patient decides how much information they want to share with you
What type of right is confidentiality ?
As a nurse, it is my obligation to keep information confidential, meaning it is a POSITIVE CLAIM RIGHT
When is it permitted to share patient information?
- With the patient’s permission (autonomy)
- When it is inside the circle of care (within the HC team)
What are the two breaches to confidentiality ?
- Unintentional = THE WORST, there are such negative outcomes
There is no common sense/caution/awareness of surroundings* - Deliberate
What is a deliberate breach to confidentiality ?
It is when information is shared ON PURPOSE outside of the HC team* (there is a balance of the consequences dependent on the breach, showcasing utilitarianism)
What certain purposes are permitted with a deliberate breach ?
The duty to warn overrides the protection of patient confidentiality
- food/waterborne illness
- infectious disease
- sexually transmitted infections
- evidence of a violent crime
