Question

Jennifer walks behind Susan's desk and notices that she is looking at the progress notes on a patient who was recently arrested and indicted for child abuse. The case has been in the newspaper and on television consistently for several weeks. Jennifer asks Susan why she has accessed that record. Susan hesitates and then says she must have entered the wrong patient ID number. A. Does Susan's explanation sound convincing? B. Why is Jennifer concerned about Susan looking at the patient's record? C. Just because the individual is a patient at the clinic, does that mean any employee has the right to look at the patient's EHR?

Answer 1

a. Does Susan’s explanation sound convincing?

No, Susan’s explanation does not sound convincing.

b. Why is Jennifer concerned about Susan looking at the patient’s record?

Jennifer is worried about Susan looking at the patients records, in light of the fact that Susan isn't as it were invavading someone elses privacy, yet additionally wasting time on the PC, when she could be accomplishing something more useful and priductive. As a group we make a solid effort to keep the patients records as private as could be possible.

c. Just because the individual is a patient at the clinic, does that mean any employee has the right to look at the patient’s EHR?

If the employee is not working with the patient then they do not have the right to go into their records. Hence, just because the individual is a patient at the clinic doesn't mean any employee has the right to look at the patient’s EHR.

Thank you :)