Ethics of nursing informatics
The artricle is about the ethical issues of nursing informations. I was intersted in the ethical issues of the EMR. The EMR is a very useful tool for the medical community. However, there area ethical problems with who can access the patients chart. Anyone with a password can retrieve a particular chart. This means an employee can look up a friends or family members record without their consent. There needs to be safeguards in protecting patient information.
lsm
lsm
posted by UTArlington_N5308 at 9:42 AM
5 Comments:
Well I can't figure out how to start a new thread so I am adding my post here as well.
Article: Curtin, L.L. (2005). Ethics in informatics: The intersection of nursing, ethics, and information technology. Nursing Administration, 29(4), 349-352.
This article was a great article for any healthcare provider to read. The author addressed the ethical issues behind the informatics in healthcare. She began by stating that one of the ethical questions is "how humans choose to use or abuse the powers of technology." She spoke about hacking, abusing priveleges of access to information, and looking up others personal and private information. Curtin (2005) states that medical technology is full of ethical issues such as privacy, confidentiality, risks of bias, risks of discrimination, danger of scientific and clinical hubris, erosion of relationships and degradation of precious skills.
I can give you a personal example. In 1999, I was severly ill with a dialated basilar artery running through the basal ganglion in my brain. I was hospitalized at the hospital in which I was employed. There were several co-workers who used their computer access to gain lab results, MRI results, and CT results on me and then gossiped to others about my condition. Not only was my privacy violated, but my medical information became publicly known through out the entire facility.
I too cannot figure out how to start a new thread......So here is my post:
Cosco, T., Knopp, A. & Milke, D. (October, 2007). Investigative first steps: Appropriate identification and ethical review of research and quality improvement. Online Journal of Nursing Informatics (OJNI), 11, (3) [Online]. Available at http://ojni.org/11_3/cosco.htm
This article was very informative and discussed the importance of differentiating between research and quality improvement data when reviewing studies . This is crucial in the interpretation of results in order to appropriately review any studies. Because data may be obtained from patient health care records, it is vital that the nurses utilize the correct channels to obtain ethics approval for the use of patients/PHI in studies. The article's main focus was on how to differentiate research and quality improvement and the reason this was essential. While this information is important, I did not find this article too stimulating!
Simpson, R. (2005). New dilemmas emerge alongside new technologies. Nurs Admin Q, 29(2), 179-182.
This article discusses some of the ethical considerations that occur with increasing technology in the field of nursing. The article states that anytime ethics is involved that it is important to make the distinction between ethics and regulations. Polices at your facilities and state and federal laws govern how we as nurses are to behave in certain situations. However ethics are not law regulating, they are more self regulating or described as an expectation according to certain standards. The article discusses about medical information that can be obtained from the World Wide Web, which is totally uninhibited by geographics, culture, and access. The article also discusses about the EMR we as nurses use for documentation and how some of them are accessible to third party spectators such as employers, lenders, and insurance companies. Also, another ethical issue of EMR’s would be the accuracy of information. Many people feel that if it is in the computer it is accurate. There is also cybermedicine and telemedicine which make a patient/provider relationship ambiguous. These are just some of the ethical issues that we must take into account as nurses who are operating in the “New Aged Informatics Era.”
Win RN, I also read an article by R. Simpson, sounds fairly similar to the information I read. I like how you highlighted the private sector gaining access to EMR. That is a scary thought. Reminds me of how all the telemarketers now have cell phone numbers that they weren't suppose to be able to access.
Ashley
Laina,
Dudley, G.,(2004). Electronic records, patient confidentiality, and the impact of HIPAA. Retrieved November 16, 2009 from http://www.psqh.com/octdec04/dudley.html.
Keeping electrical medical records private is more difficult that a paper trail. Personal information can be sent eletronically at no cost and with minimal effort (Dudley, 2004). Sixteen years ago survey was distributed asking respondents opinion regarding security of their personal information. Interesting 80% of the respondents belived that consumers had lost the battle of protecting their personal information (Dudley,2004).
Just last week I discussed this very issue with our core measure expert and she shared her personal story regarding protecting her privacy. The day before her elective surgery she arranged with quality and information services to track all persons who viewed her medical record. Fortunately, no one who did not have the need to know accessed her medical record. On a personal note, I have access to every scanned medical record and will never cross the line to look at anything that I do not have a need to know to do my job.
Debbie
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