IHP4 discussion questions replies½ page for students with references and in-text citations in each

IHP4 discussion questions replies
½ page for students with references and in-text citations in each paragraph.  Please answer all parts.

In your responses to your peers, indicate whether you agree with them about the way the situation was handled, and explain why or why not.

April,
The PT (Physical Therapist) was correct in not giving the information that was being demanded of her to the patient’s mother-in-law.  Without a patient’s written consent, medical information/records should never be released to anyone but the patient, which in this case it did not mention that there was any consent given by the patient. 
I believe that the PT needs to explain in detail to her supervisor what happened with the phone call and in detail about going into the chart and documenting the mother-in-laws chart by accident so that it can be taken out of the incorrect patients chart or “in error”.  I also think that as soon as she determined that she was in the wrong chart she should have exited immediately and not looked around. Behavioral Health information is even more protected.  I feel that there was a breach of confidentiality as far as the PT looking deeper into the mother-in-laws chart when she was not the patient and the PT had nothing to do with her medical record and she should have never been in the chart in the first place.  The supervisor should not only remind the PT of the HIPPA laws and regulations but also go over the protocols/policies with the PT about medical records that the healthcare organization has.  The mother-in-law should be notified that her chart was accidentally documented in, because if she was to ask for medical records and she received the note and she was never notified it would cause issues for the healthcare facility.

Chrisitina,
In this particular situation, I feel that the supervisor should have the employee document on both charts and created an addendum for the chart that she actually documented on. I do not feel this was a breach of confidentiality as she entered the chart accidentally, but she should have been more careful. I feel the patient should be notified for safety reasons but without giving information about the other person’s health record. There is clearly more to the story hence the reason why the mother-in-law is seeking health care information.