Professional Accountability

Professional Accountability Assignment

The American Nursing Association Code of Ethics states in section 3.2 about confidentiality. This section says that the nurse has a duty to maintain confidentiality of all patient information. Disclosing patient information inappropriately and unnecessarily can jeopardize the trust between the patient and the nurse. Relevant patient data should only be shared with other healthcare members that need to know for the patient's care. Information used for quality improvement or risk management should be done under defined protocols, policies, and mandates. There must be data security maintained for all electronic communication (ANA, 2001).

Under the University of Phoenix's General Student's Rights and Responsibilities code number nine, it is stated that we must maintain confidentiality and respect the privacy of personal and professional communicated information about other students, their employers, and clients (UOP, 2006).

Both codes for The American Nursing Association and University of Phoenix, write about confidentiality and how it must be maintained. There needs to a proper balance between healthcare and personal information given out and used.

Due to the rapid advances in electronic communication, identity theft is one significant concern. We have to be smart when communicating information by fax, telephone, or email by computer. Famous people admitted to hospitals, like in the case of New York's Presbyterian Hospital, when they admitted a famous local athlete and their own vice-president, found 1500 unauthorized attempts to look up their records. Healthcare records need to be available for use, but only by the healthcare workers involved with these people. People are also worried that unlawful use of records can limit health insurance and job opportunities (Freudenheim, 2006).

In 1996, the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act or HIPAA, was made law. This law provides rights to patients and safeguards for employees. HIPAA was the first national legislation to assure every patient that their health insurance information was protected. Hospitals and providers must inform patients in writing of how their health data will be used. HIPAA also established requirements for electronic transmission of certain healthcare information (Erickson, 2005).

When nurses made the Nightingale Pledge and other nursing codes were established, we recognized the need for confidentiality. Now, these days, the American Nurses Association Code of Ethics is the standard by which ethical conduct is guided by the professional nurse. Patient confidentiality is a sacred trust that nurses need to keep to ensure their patient's rights.

In the school environment, the Student's Rights and Responsibilities of confidentiality have to be maintained in order to protect ourselves and our fellow students. Just like healthcare information, information that other students tell each other has to be maintained private. Information obtained illegally can be used wrongly against fellow students and privacy has to be maintained for each other. Conversations with fellow students about job experiences have to be kept private because it can be detrimental to the other people involved if they found out. School records are also private unless the student opts to share their information.

The future of healthcare confidentiality will only be getting harder to maintain. Electronic computer technology can get sent to the wrong