Legal and ethical concerning HIPAA and the nurses role - Admission/Application Essay Example

Patients Health Information Role of Nurses in protecting client Information The nurse has the responsibility of caring for the patient while ensuring that a patient’s privacy and confidentiality has been protected. It is the nurse’s role in protecting and promoting the patients right in relation to privacy and confidentiality. (Davis, 1994). The health insurance portability act was enacted in order to improve the continuity of health care fraud and simplify the administration and health insurance.

These rules protect all individuals identified with health information .It also protects an individuals present, past and future information. This law limits the nurses and medical professionals in sharing the individual’s health information. Information can only be disclosed in the event that legal law has been authorized. A patient’s health information should only be used for treatment, obtaining payment for care and for the improvement of personal care (Davis, 1994). Therefore a nurse is only supposed to disclose the patient’s information to persons that the patient has authorized and is comfortable with sharing the information.

Where a nurse fails to protect the patients’ health information there can result to erosion between their relationships, thus the patient and nurse relationship and can result to implicating consequences.More so, a nurse should only know the information that is of use to the patient’s treatment. It is also the nurse’s duty to protect the wellbeing of those entrusted in their care, therefore health information should not be shared and result to affecting the patient both emotionally and physically (James, 2008).

The fact that the woman in this scenario was the man’s spouse; it did not give him special access to the woman’s health information. He would only have accessed the information if the woman would have given authority for health information to be shared with her husband. Therefore the nurse was supposed to have restricted herself from giving any information.Appropriate Steps to be takenThe nurse is supposed to inform the chief practitioner responsible for the patient’s treatment that the patient’s information about the past pregnancies have been shared to her husband.

This is to ensure that further information about the patient is not shared with any other person. After the patient is in a position to be told, she should be told that information about her past has been shared with her husband (James, 2008). This is a way of preparing the patient psychologically of any outcome that will result. The nurse should be taught on how important a client’s information is and should only be shared with the patient’s authorization. This will prevent future cases of the nurse disclosing patient’s information.

How cultural competency care factor into the nurses legal and ethical responsibilitiesCultural competence is developing an awareness of one’s existence. Cultural competent care is important for the critical care nurses who function in high acuity, high stress and health environments. In order for cultural competent care to be administered to the patients then a nurse should have clear knowledge on cultural background of a given place. Many health organizations around the world have defined care for their specific populations from the perspective of these systems.

Understanding different cultures and cultural patterns helps the nurse to be able to work comfortable under any given cultural circumstance. Cultural competence enables the nurse to understand individuals, communities and populations (House, 1980). This cultural knowledge is therefore very critical to professional nurses. It also enables the nurse to deliver care under areas with high cultural conflict. It can be said that cultural competence is aimed at improving patient’s health care. A nurse is supposed to have a clear understanding of the culture of a given place so that they can be able to discharge her duties as expected of them (Surbone, 1997).

ReferencesDavis, M. W. (1994). Computerising Health Care Information Developing Electronic Patient Information Systems. Chicago: 1994.House, C. c. (1980). Cancer Treatment Patient Information:An annoted Bibliography of Patient Information and Education Materials. Bethseda: National Institute of Health.James, P. D. (2008). The Private Patient. New York: Alfred Knopf.Surbone, A. (1997). Communication with the Cancer Patient:Information and t ruth. New York: New york publishers.