Privacy And Privacy In Nursing

Nurses have a duty of protecting the privacy and confidentiality of their patient while undergoing treatment and procedures under their care. Privacy and confidentiality are two different terms. Privacy is described as the “right of individuals to withhold themselves and their lives from public scrutiny” (Kozier and Erb, 2012, p.82) while confidentiality is defined as “any information a participant relates will not be made public or available to others without the participant’s consent” (Kozier and Erb, 2012, p.33). The Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia (NMBA) is the governing council for all Australian registered nurses. The NMBA has set guidelines and standards that would serve as a norm in providing excellent care. Privacy and

Lucinda wanted to know about what antibiotic her husband is on and what the action of the drug is so that she can do some online readings by herself about what disease her husband is suffering. Bearing in mind the set of professional standards set by the NMBA, Gemma should seek first the consent of Salvatore before giving any relative information to Lucinda. Taking into consideration that Lucinda is the wife of Salvatore, it does not imply that she can receive information without the patient’s knowledge. Gemma still is required to call Salvatore and ask the patient if he is amenable to sharing the information that Lucinda, the wife, is asking. Levett-Jones & Bourgeouis (2015) states that nurses should make certain that any information about the patient is used with the client’s permission. Furthermore, Price (2015) mentions that part of a nurse’s duty is to protect the patient from unwarranted intrusion. Patients put their trust in the nurses to safeguard their health information and it is the nurse’s duty to do such. All members of the medical team have an obligation to protect their patient’s privacy and confidentiality (Starr, 2013). McCamish (2016) states that nurses are one of the most reliable among all

Kozier & Erb (2012) describes accountability as being responsible for one’s actions and cannot be passed on to another person. The nurse would be punished depending on the hospital’s rules and regulations. She may be given a verbal warning, be suspended or in the worst-case scenario be discharged from the service. The same case applies to student nurses. If a nursing student inadvertently disclosed any information to a third party without the patient’s consent then the student will be asked to leave placement. Nursing students are given their Code of Conduct Agreement prior to their clinical placement and these are to be followed because these set of rules and standards are geared to preparing them for their professional career as a registered nurse in the future. Nurses, as well as nursing students, are obliged to avoid breaching the patient’s privacy and confidentiality in order to avoid legal problems.

Privacy and confidentiality are basic rights of every individual. It is a legal and ethical obligation of nurses and student nurses to protect personal health information gathered from patients and disclosure of this said personal data to a third party should be done with the clients’ consent. It is essential that these duties are upheld