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Ethics in Information Technology
Computer related ethical issues found in information systems
Computer related ethical issues found in information systems
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Recommended: Ethics in Information Technology
The Influence of Ethical Issues on Information Technology Usage
The Information Technology use is widespread in today’s healthcare and continuously evolving and changing. The information technology usage evidently provides substantial advantages for health care system and consumers, despite the present ethical dilemmas and concerns. The purpose of this paper is to deliberate the influence of ethical issues on information technology usage in nursing and healthcare in general.
Importance of ethical, legal, and regulatory issues and information technology
The first reason that these matters are important in using information technology in nursing is the presence of established legal guidelines how to improve the quality of patients’ care while keeping clients’ personal information confidential and protected. Furthermore, the legislation significantly affecting several aspects of healthcare system, such as the dissemination of information, protection of personal information, use of technical standards, and use of electronic signatures (Hebda,2013). Utilization of informatics within healthcare system implies the easier process of sharing information, decrease amount of
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However, some ethical conflicts arise in the compound work process, and nurses experience moral anguish when they engage in ethical dilemmas that concern patient care (Lewenson, 2015). The first moral issue is the privacy of personal health information while using information technology. The exchange of personal information across the networked system potentially threatens the patient’s safety when confidential information is available to others without patient’s authorization. The inappropriate disclosure of private information is extremely damaging for the patients and reputation of health care
As the evolution of healthcare from paper documentation to electronic documentation and ordering, the security of patient information is becoming more difficult to maintain. Electronic healthcare records (EHR), telenursing, Computer Physician Order Entry (CPOE) are a major part of the future of medicine. Social media also plays a role in the security of patient formation. Compromising data in the information age is as easy as pressing a send button. New technology presents new challenges to maintaining patient privacy. The topic for this annotated bibliography is the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA). Nursing informatics role is imperative to assist in the creation and maintenance of the ease of the programs and maintain regulations compliant to HIPAA. As a nurse, most documentation and order entry is done electronically and is important to understand the core concepts of HIPAA regarding electronic healthcare records. Using keywords HIPAA and informatics, the author chose these resources from scholarly journals, peer reviewed articles, and print based articles and text books. These sources provide how and when to share patient information, guidelines and regulation d of HIPAA, and the implementation in relation to electronic future of nursing.
In this paper I will discuss the ethical dilemmas, ethical principles, values from CNO, and CNA, I will also discuss the laws. I will give opinions about my chosen scenario, how I felt and what I thought of it. The best action based on the analysis of this situation is for the nurse not to disclose this patient private and confidential information to her friend. Because if the nurse gives any information of her patient to her friend goes against CNO professional standards, (CNO, 2002). CNO defines standards as “Standards apply to all nurses regardless of their role, job description or area of practice,” (CNO, 2002).
Out of all the duties of a nurse, one of the most important duties is how the nurse honors the trust of a patient by maintaining the patient’s privacy and safeguarding the patient’s information confidentially. Privacy is the ability of the patient to make the choices in how to handle information regarding him or herself that other individuals are not aware of. As an example, prior to releasing the patient’s private information, the nurse must notify the patient on how their information will be handled and get consent from the patient
Employees within healthcare and anyone who has been a mature patient in recent years have been duly informed of the Health Insurance Privacy and Portability Act (HIPPA), but even more people are more intimately familiar with the social networking site Facebook. Prior to researching the legal and ethical boundaries at it pertains to patient confidentiality in nursing school, many of us thought little of the HIPPA concept and how it applies to each of us as individuals. We can announce to the world on Facebook that I have a lump, please go get a mammogram! We can whine on for ages about our children’s medical problems. We make announcements and call for prayers for our spouses and parents who are ill. We share with our friends and family, sometimes things we should not share. This is not about Facebook; its essence is respecting others privacy and refusing to participate in activity that may divulge private medical information about anyone. Crossing that line, making clear the intent to become a part of the health care sector, changes your responsibility toward identifying information regarding a person other than yourself, and that information dies with you or there can be harsh consequences.
... and HIPAA, Does instant access and availability from mobile technology jeopardize patient privacy? [Electronic version] Nursing Management, June 2007, 38-40
Professionalism and staying within professional boundaries is not only a critical part of maintaining your patient’s trust, but it is also a law that nurses must follow to remain practicing. Patients are vulnerable to the nurse in this position, so the nurse must be careful not to break this trust. Professional boundaries are the gap between the nurse’s professional position and the vulnerability of the patient. Nurses are required to abide by privacy standards to protect the patient and to practice a therapeutic relationship. A therapeutic relationship is the medium between under-involvement and over-involvement, and is the zone where nurses should remain. One reason why it is so important that nurses do not overstep their boundaries, is that nurses are respected, trusted, and valued by patients. It is important to keep this reputation to be successful in this field (Black, 2014).
In conclusion, technology has changed the world, as we knew it. Positive and negative come with change. The goal of the ACA, HIPPA, and EHRs is achieve positive patient outcomes, while protecting the integrity, trust and confidentiality, and decreasing health care cost. Privacy is a fundamental right of a patient, and nurses are expected to maintain confidentiality (Burkhardt & Nathaniel, 2014). A breach in confidentiality will result in lack of trust between nurse and patients. As a nurse, it is my responsibility to ensure my patients privacy, and to provide nursing care that is patient centered, not technology centered.
Every patient that is admitted to hospital, or seen by a health professional has a right to his or her own privacy, and it is through ensuring professional boundaries are upheld that this basic right can be achieved. According to Levett-Jones and Bourgeois (2011, pp. 237) confidentiality is an obligation made by a professional to respect the information given by a patient to healthcare professional. In this modern age, privacy can be hard as society relies on technology as a form of communication, allowing for information to be more readily available. However, by posting on Facebook about a patient or informing a friend, the trust created in a therapeutic relationship is breach and is called a boundary crossing. Thompson (2010, pp.26) understands that “At times, boundary crossing may be unintentional, but emphasizes th...
As a nurse, it is within your role to safeguard the right to privacy for individuals. To ensure that nurses are adhering to this, ethical strategies have been proposed and implemented from a legal and regulatory body.
Perhaps the most persistent and lasting effect of capitalism is the implementation of market thinking within society. As Sandel states in his book What Money Can’t Buy, “the reach of markets, and market-oriented thinking, into aspects of life traditionally governed by non market norms is one of the most significant developments of our time” (7). Sandel’s main argument is the emptiness of morality within modern society, claiming people have become less ethical in that last thirty years due to market-driven society. However, his assertion of loosening morality does not take into account how technological advancement opens ethical perspective. Through inventions that challenges us to apply ethics to fields
Confidentiality is imperative for a health professional's career and if breached can have serious consequences. Confidentiality refers to information discussed between two people, which is of a confident nature. It is stated in the Code of Professional Conduct for Nurses that, ' Nurses shall treat personal information obtained in a professional capacity as private and confidential.' (Reference) This simply means that nurses have the legal obligation to protect the privacy of any patient. There are several circumstances, which a nurse, if it were to benefit a patient, is allowed to disclose information so that appropriate
A norm in society is when an individual sees danger, they are supposed to report it to the authorities, therefore preventing any further damage. Breach of confidentiality is when a nurse shares information about a patient with others who are not authorized to know about the patient's personal information. Due to this, patients are afraid to be honest with their physicians and nurses that are treating them. In order to assure patients’ confidentiality, health professionals created the patient bill of rights to ensure that patient’s personal information is kept safe from outsiders.
Technology and innovation have transformed the way people function personally and professionally. In the past, writing and mailing a letter was standard but now most people send electronic messages and text messages to phones. Healthcare has been changing tremendously as well, not only are paper charts and records becoming obsolete, but now many facilities are sharing test results, visit information details, and prescribed drug lists. This move into the digital age has helped improve healthcare by cutting costs in the long-term, increasing efficiency with decreased wait times, and reducing medical errors. This evolving technology expansion, commonly referred to as nursing informatics has created many opportunities for nursing professionals with information technology experience to move into this growing field.
Nursing Informatics is a nursing field that involves record keeping and focuses on finding ways to improve information management and communications in nursing to improve efficiency, reduce costs and enhance the quality of patient care. This field is primarily administrative but plays a part in patient care and quality of health care. There are other types of nurses, but many people focus on the nurses who perform the medical treatments with the doctors. This is evident in many films, TV shows, and in other popular media outlets. However, many people do not know what nursing informatics is nor pay attention to that side of nursing which involves the documentation of records and other miscellaneous items, use of advances in technology to improve
William Goossen’s theory can be applied in nursing practice to develop nursing informatics skills and knowledge, as well as develop technological system competencies among nurses to collect, process, retrieve and communicate pertinent information across health care organizations (Goossen, 2000). This theory is highly applicable in addressing matters related to electronic health records, which are currently characterized with issues of privacy and confidentiality in relation to storage, retrieval and reproduction of patient health information. The model also provides broad applicability in guiding research at any clinical setting and contributes to the discipline of nursing by simplifying and enhancing documentation and storage of patient’s health information and by allowing better utilization of nursing resources (Elkind, 2009).