HIPPA
I think that compliance with HIPPA is one of the hardest things to get students to understand and honor. No matter how important we make it sound to keep everything about your patient's confidential, they still dont seem to completely grasp the seriousness of privacy and condifentiality.
Helen, students are sometimes unaware of the confidentiality commitment professionals have, and think social media is okay to vent on. They are wrong.
Michele Deck
I like the Brush with Fame activity because HIPPA content can be very dry and this gives an experiencial component that everyone can relate to. I also read the highlights of an article I read in a journal about a nursing student who blogged about a clinical experience that was very derogitory. She never used the client's name but it could have been easy to figure out who it was from her classmates. We have to be dilligent to include social media in HIPPA.
Laurel, it is a tough lesson to teach, but well worth the effort. Privacy and HIPAA is not to be ignored without consequences.
Michele Deck
With social media and social networking students find it hard to understand the importance of individual privacy. Just restricting cell phone usage in the school and workplace is a major issue. Students need to understand the repercussions of individual's private information being leaked to anyone and the damage it may cause.
Shirley, I agree that social norms have changed and just about everything is considered public knowledge.
Michele Deck
We are such a sharing society. What don't our students talk about. They seem to have no idea that there is such a thing as a filter.
What is the name of the DVD that you use. Real life experiences are what students want to hear about, but,,,,it is very black and white what can be shared.
Edward , I like the way you are personalizing this aspect of HIPAA so that it is real to your students.
Michele Deck
I don't teach this class in the respiratory therapist curriculum, but support the teaching that is done by reinforcing it when I teach the Legal and Ethical Issues module. I usually try to stress the importance of HIPPA by having the students substitute their own names for the cases we consider.
Privacy is not a concept that is foreign to students. They should understand it, although they may not take it seriously. Visuals in the form of real-life scenarios can help get this point across. I also use a video that shows "real" scenarios from the reception area, clinical area, business office, telephone conversations, and employee relations. Students are then able to understand that the concept of privacy (HIPAA)is tangible, non-elusive, and if violated, a very real law.
I is very hard for students to understand that they cannot talk about patients. the activities described could defintatly help.
Sherry, That is a good idea. Thanks for sharing. I have a HIPAA DVD that I show with a quiz to fill out during the video. The DVD also highlights the criminal and civil penalties for violations.
I even try to help my students understand the sanctions involved for violating HIPPA. I try to get them to know the seriousness of the matter.
Sherry , your approach connects students to real life practice, which will help them on the job.
Michele Deck
I give my students a handout to read prior to my lecture that enumerates all of the personal identifiers of patients so that they understand how comprehensive HIPPA is. We then meet at the next class session and I ask them to share experiences from "real life" We create scenarios together to reinforce the applications and how to safeguard information.
Shaghayegh, it is part of the role of healthcare provider/associates to understand the importance. It is hard to teach.
Michele Deck
