Talking about work - confidentiality

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Kathrin

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If I told my Mom at home about a patient whose tragic story touched me, decided to tell her even though I wasn’t sure if it was ok to even tell HER about it (law says we’re not allowed to talk about patients. I wasn’t totally sure if that relates to confidential discussions with my Mom too, with whom I share a lot), but did it anyway because I wanted to share his story with her… was that a mortal sin?

Kathrin
 
I don’t think it’s a mortal sin. I know it’s ‘illegal,’ though I don’t see the harm if you didn’t mention anyone’s name.
 
Kathrin said:
If I told my Mom at home about a patient whose tragic story touched me, decided to tell her even though I wasn’t sure if it was ok to even tell HER about it (law says we’re not allowed to talk about patients. I wasn’t totally sure if that relates to confidential discussions with my Mom too, with whom I share a lot), but did it anyway because I wanted to share his story with her… was that a mortal sin?

Kathrin
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I don’t think it would be a HIPAA violation to talk about a patient with your Mom as long as you did not give out any specific information (ie - Name, Address, Social Security No … etc …).
 
jkiernan56 said:
I don’t think it would be a HIPAA violation to talk about a patient with your Mom as long as you did not give out any specific information (ie - Name, Address, Social Security No … etc …).
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This is completely correct. HIPAA is to prevent a specific person’s medical information from being released, not to prevent people from discussing generic stories.

After all, if that were illegal, doctors couldn’t even talk about some of their personal experience with (illegal drug use, drunk driving, insert other example here) without violating the law.
 
AHapka said:
This is completely correct. HIPAA is to prevent a specific person’s medical information from being released, not to prevent people from discussing generic stories.

After all, if that were illegal, doctors couldn’t even talk about some of their personal experience with (illegal drug use, drunk driving, insert other example here) without violating the law.
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Kathrin lives in Switzerland. So, HIPPA has no bearing on her situation as that is a US law.

Katherin, you did not commit a sin or do anything wrong by sharing information with your mother. Of course patient confidentiality is important, so as long as you are not sharing identifying information (name, etc) then you are fine.
 
1ke said:
Kathrin lives in Switzerland. So, HIPPA has no bearing on her situation as that is a US law.

Katherin, you did not commit a sin or do anything wrong by sharing information with your mother. Of course patient confidentiality is important, so as long as you are not sharing identifying information (name, etc) then you are fine.
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Oops…my mistake.
 
I did say the first name.
I know that was probably wrong.
I had a long talk with my boss today to clear up what exactly I can say and what i can’t.
I talked to a woman from church and she said something along the lines of maybe saying the first name was pushing it a bit but I didn’t have a bad intention so it wouldn’t be a sin.
And that I learned something, am more aware now.

My boss said also of course it’s ok to talk about work at home with family.
But better not use even first names.
And not talk about things like what medications somebody takes etc.

Kathrin
 
While you didn’t do anything technically wrong, I would offer that you need to be very very careful. I have worked in a safe house for victims of domestic vilolence. There, you had to sign a confidentiality agreement. I presently serve as a Stephen Minister, where confidentiality between the caregiver and care receiver is sacrosanct.

Sometimes, people can can put two and two together, or may have some other piece of information that may lead to the identification of the person involved. I have seen in other areas where innocent conversations can lead to tragic results.

A “get out of jail free card” is possible if the person gives permission for one to share information about themselves.
 
I would not want my physican or anyone on his staff to be discussing my personal life - including my heath care issues with their family members / friends. I most certainly would not want you to refer to me by my first name!

I suppose everyone discusses work at home… but gosh, I don’t like the that it would be ME being discussed.

I don’t think it’s a sin though. Just something I wish you wouldn’t do. 😊
 
Ok, getting a bit paranoid about this now, I am not sure… so confidentiality also refers to coworkers. Now, my parents know who I work with, and even my coworkers themselves say it’s ok to say things like “I am working with so and so today, I really like working with her…” etc.
But now when I am at home and talking to my Mom (and we are very close, we talk about a lot of things and often) and I’d say something like “somebody I work with is looking for a computer is it possible to give her the old one we have standing around?” (this is a fictional example now, though it’s similar to what happened) and my Mom asks me who (because she knows who I work with, from me talking about work often), and I end up saying the name, did I do something wrong again?
Or if I talk about exactly this problem, and that one of my coworkers didn’t think it was such a big problem… did I violate HER confidentiality again? Even if I am sure she wouldn’t mind?
My Mom says I am exaggerating, like it becomes difficult to talk to me because I am so unsure now.
 
Ok,

I think you are beginning to get scrupulous here. This is not gossip, this is you talking about your life with your mother. I think that the best thing for you to do is to bring this up with your spiritual director.

Then listen to his or her advice and ignore the rest of us.
 
I talked to two of my coworkers again this morning and they felt I was still unsure and made me talk on the phone to our boss again, and she said it’s ok to be normal, I mean to do things like talk about normal things that are not confidential… feeling better now again .🙂 .
 
No way you’ve committed a mortal sin there.

Health workers discuss cases all the time. Develop the habit of saying something like, “A lady patient I was treating today…” or “I was looking after a young male patient who…” BUT be mindful of things like:
  1. Do you live in a small community where it could be deduced who the person is?
  2. Are you having such a conversation where a relative of the patient could overhear, or a relative of a different patient could overhear? ie Don’t have those sorts of conversations in public, and especially not in hospital elevators.
Who says you owe coworkers confidentiality like you mentioned? I’ve nevere heard of that as an issue. People often have to debrief to their spouses about the stresses of their day. I do it, and I know others do about me. What I think is a bit immoral is coworkers bitching behind others’ backs (especially on the phone between shifts/ over drinks), scapegoating, apportioning blame to the wrong person, and I’ve seen all that happen. That kind of thing is clearly gossip, it’s negative and immoral, and if you work in health it’s probably something you will see. By the way if you side with the victim, expect to attract some yourself!

yellowbird, you might get discussed as a “case” or a “difficult patient” or a “lovely woman” or something like that, but your name should not be used out of the practice. And if there is any possibility that the spouse could know you personally you should not be discussed at all. Period. That’s when absolute confidentiality is needed. But also know that probably the receptionist at your Doctor’s will proabably know more about you than you’d like. Best to just accept that person as a professional to whom you are just another patient, and no matter how embarrasing your problem they’ve seen it before.

Hope that helps. It’s no biggy.

Oh, but this is: Be careful of laughing within earshot of patients. Sick people undergoing embarassing tests and treatment can easily get paranoid that you’re laughing at them, even though you’re not.

Hope that helps.
 
Thanks, Author.

I totally agree with you about not bitching about people, be it coworkers or anybody else. That is not something I would want to do anyway, be it legal or not. I just think we usually don’t know somebody’s situation, why they were behaving in a certain way, etc… not for us to judge. Or gossip. Gossip is wrong anyway.

Kathrin
 
I have worked in a place where a good manager encouraged “venting.” This meant that it was OK to say, “So and so is doing X,y, or z that’s bothering me” to get it off their chest. But once it was vented, everyone was expected to move on ie so no grudge would be held. It allowed diffusion of mild anger/ annoyance before things built up. It worked in that particular practice and it was a happy positive place.

Where I work now it is totally different. If someone has a problem with you, you’ll know it because of the silent treatment, body language, them making loud noises, etc. Completely unhelpful because no real communication goes on, and so the problem cannot be solved. That’s too common in health too.

My point being that there is a difference between venting about someone just to blow off steam and move on, vs malicious bitching designed to hurt the person. I think venting is OK, but bitching is not. Hope that makes sense. You need somewhere to go with frustrations and annoyances that arise at work, and you need to have someone to discuss things with. I actually don’t see how it is possible to not discuss colleagues, even in a negative light. I reckon the sin is if it is malicious. ie debriefing is OK, but hurting people is not.
 
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