Exposure of Patient Data to the Media - Coursework Example

Exposure of Patient Data to the Media.

Technology is inevitable in our day to day life; it improves work and makes the world better. The development of new technologies has helped to save lives. Technology has dramatically helped hospitals in ways that include billing and scheduling, laboratory reporting, and diagnostic tool system. The pressure to improve healthcare in the management of COVID-19 is demanding; therefore, it is inevitable to accept the use of healthcare electronic patient records (EPR). The use of EPR will aim to improve the management of COVID-19 by fast access to Patient' information and to save time and aid in supporting decisions (Priestman et al., 2018). The doctors, nurses, and clinicians with the security credentials will assess their detailed data freely. With more information readily available in the use of technology, we will view information and privacy systems and the risks that evolved after the exposure of sensitive Patient's data to the media in the COVID-19 unit.

Impact of Technology on Patient's Privacy and HIPAA Standards.

HIPAA is the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, which was passed in 1996. The act, which is a Federal law, restricts assess to Patient's private information. Essentially this act gives healthcare professionals the boundaries of use and disclosure of COVID-19 Patient's health records. Keeping the Patient's data secure and protected is essentially the growth of trust the patient inputs to the practitioner; this makes the Patient more confident in seeking care since they know the detailed COVID-19 data is kept safe. The practitioner needs to show transparency to the Patient, which will build up the same level of transparency from the Patient. Failure of practitioners to comply with the HIPAA standards can cause them penalties and even criminal actions. In the management of COVID-19, technology stores the Patient's data provides digital communication and network security; therefore, technology can significantly impact Patient's privacy and the HIPAA standards. In maintaining HIPAA standards, the protection of patient information is essential. Storage of Patient's data will vary according to the organization, the type of data, and the amount to have opted for patients' privacy and HIPAA compliance of data storage options. Patient's privacy and HIPAA compliance ensure that email sent are delivered securely, and the COVID-19 information is protected throughout. Also, by protecting the Patient's privacy, the information sent should be in coded form only to be understood by the users with the authorization code.

Impact of Technology on Health Care Regulations.

Technology has greatly impacted the healthcare regulation of patient’s safety and Quality improvement Act .The use of technology in the management of a COVID-19 patient has increased productivity and efficiency by reducing the risks of creating errors in Patient's data, and also computerization is less time consuming and easy to assess to Patient's data thus improving quality in the management of the patient. In quality improvement, the use of technology regulates the way healthcare professionals implement health policies. Some protocols involve the use of technology during COVID-19 diagnosis and keeping of Patient's information thus maintaining patient’s safety and quality improvement during the diagnosis. In this aspect, electronic health records play a vital role in policy regulation. Patient's COVID-19 data from the EHR systems can be analyzed, and generate potential gaps in healthcare or can relate how effective the policies are to the Patient's health (Ronquillo, & Zuckerman, 2017) thus impacting healthcare. The other impact is the improvement of quality of care through registration of clinical practices. Nurses and other healthcare providers always use quality patient care as their primary objects during practice. However, when any disparity generates, technology informs the Patient's feedback systems that can clearly define the uproot of the problem and report it timely to the medical practitioners for immediate regulation; thus, improving quality management.

Legal Guidelines on the Appropriate Use of Technology.

Technology in the management of COVID-19 should be used appropriately according to the legal guidelines. These legal guidelines include: provision of secure identity services that mechanisms to prove an entity is what it claims to be before logging in into the files. Use of strong format technologies to make sure patient’s information is not in clear text format so unauthorized personnel won’t be able to understand the patient’s information even if it leaks. Provision of services that maintain privacy like anonymization of patients COVID-19 information as much as possible before it can be shared so as to maintain privacy.

Ending Scenario.

In the covid-19 unit, the data sent to different databases is always highly classified and requires a password to access the data. During the new nurse's orientation in the covid-19 unit, she did not get clarity about the necessity to have a passcode before sending them to the central unit. In this scenario, the Patient's data was exposed to the media. In the use of electronic patient records, the information was leaked due to misconfiguration. Hackers can get a lot of health information in just a few hours to make money in different ways, and the hackers still expose the ports to the public. The covid-19 unit has security measures in the use of the EPRs. However, the new nurse did not use one measure, which was to include a passcode in the classified data. The practitioner on duty action was to immediately notify the IT team to secure the IT systems and notified the law enforcement Agency of the hospital. Therefore hackers hacked the data and exposed it to the media due to free access. Also, the limitation of users to each database would minimize the exposure of data to the public. The recommendations required are that there should be monitorization of unusual database reads and limit of database access to specific IP range (Adjerid et al., 2016). These recommendations will form tighter controls to assess. Security teams should be in place to maintain online data secure and protected. In a nutshell, there should be a balance between accessibility and protection of Patient's data.

Advantages and Disadvantages of Appropriately Using Technology in Healthcare.

EPRs in the COVID-19 are vital in the safe storage of Patient information for long periods and are not easily lost. The use of technology in the management of COVID-19 is less time consuming and allows Patient to spend less time in recovery (Paaske et al., 2017). It also reduces medical errors and increases the safety of patients. However the efficiency of the use of technology there are some disadvantages, which include power shortages while assessing the COVID-19 Patient's information, hackers exposing the information, lack of attention to detail while feeding in the Patient's information and also the equipment of technology used in storing the COVID-19 information might have some malfunctions.

Professional and Ethical Principles.

During the management of a COVID-19 patient one should observe the professional and ethical principles. The principles include: Nonmalefficence which states that one should not create harm during the management (Grace, 2017). In the use of technology one should not created harm to the patient may it be physically or psychological. For instance leaking of patient’s data to the media might cause psychological torture to the patient. Beneficence is another principle that states benefit only that is do well or good during the management, use technology in the ‘good’ way to mange the patient. Autonomy is another principle that states that the practitioner should involve the patient in making decisions for their management. For instance they should chiise the kind of technology they want in their management process. Lastly Justice is the other principle whereby the management should be morally right and equity of service to all managements. It is just if justice is applied in keeping the patient’s data safely by the use of technology. For instance patient’s A information should not be well secured than patient’s B information due to some personal issues. All this principles are significant to be observed in the management of a COVID-19 patient

Conclusion.

The use of EPRs is significantly useful in managing a COVID-19 patient that increases productivity and efficiency. Although it is beneficial, it can be at a high risk of HIPAA standards being violated; therefore, the practitioner should be very keen and observe the HIPAA guidelines while using technology in healthcare. Legal guidelines in the use of technology in healthcare should be observed to ensure patient’s safety and quality improvement. Professional and ethical principles should all be observed as testified in the Hypocritic Oath.

Reflection.

I learnt the importance of observing professional and ethical principles and the importance of following the legal guidelines while using technology in the management of a COVID-19 patient. I learned that in my future practice, I will always follow all the HIPAA guidelines while using technology in healthcare and to make sure to observe the legal guidelines while using technology. I will work with the IT department to ensure that Patient's data is kept secure, and it is always protected.