Legal/Ethical Issues in Nursing Practice: Informatics - Research Paper Example

Central to nursing practice on legal and ethical charter is the management and processing of information that concerns patients (Gallagher, 2013). Confidentiality is a prime principle in the nursing practice that nurses are bound to keep. Retrieval of information for study purposes has always been a challenge in most cases as it puts one in a dilemma of confidentiality and legal obligation. This paper aims to analyze and explore the legal and ethical dilemmas that arise in regards to privacy, electronic health record systems and research among others.

With the emergence of sophisticated technological systems that can process and efficiently handle data and information, both communication and record handling have taken a new and advanced route. Information about patients is now recorded and processed on electronic spaces with restricted access from unauthorized persons (Gallagher, 2013). In the recent past, many healthcare facilities have moved away from the hard paper records to electronic data systems that have been identified as the best way to ensure privacy and confidentiality.

When paperwork was the way to go in keeping health records, accessibility to the records by unauthorized persons could only be obstructed by a lock at the office unlike the current electronic locks that have passwords and can be encoded. Nurses have to abide by legal and ethical obligations surrounding the confidentiality and safeguarding of patient’s information. Although the introduction of Electronic Health Record system has been seen as a major breakthrough in ensuring patients’ privacy, there are doubts concerning the level at which the system can effectively store information and safeguard it from unwarranted access.

Technology is rapidly advancing to bring new ways of solving problems in the society. Hackers, fraudsters and others of ill-will are emerging as well to keep up with the pace of