The first code of nursing ethics was approved by the American Association of Nursing in 1950, with periodic reviews and modifications in the years 1956, 1960, 1968, 1976, 1985 and 2001 to guide nurses in more complex roles and functions.
The principles of privacy and confidentiality in health care are fully respected in the United States.
Legislation to protect patient privacy for health information, the Act Portability and Accountability Health Insurance (HIPAA) is a federal law passed by the United States Congress and signed by President Bill Clinton in 1996, governs all areas of patient information and manage this information. HIPAA Privacy Rule or the privacy of Individually Identifiable Health Information was adopted on 14 April 2003, establishing national standards to protect the privacy of personal …show more content…
For example, if you are assigned to the care of a patient, you can review patient medical records and care plan. Should not share this information with another patient or staff not involved in patient care. Nor should access the medical records of another patient who is not under his care in the unit, and cannot review electronic medical records for personal use.
HIPAA violations come in two broad categories: negligent and intentional. An example of an intentional violation is snooping – and we’ve all heard stories about hospital employees being fired for looking at the charts of people they did not directly care for, perhaps out of curiosity regarding a celebrity or local public figure, or through the temptation to “just browse” to pass the