Maintaining Privacy and Confidentiality

Nurses recognize the importance of privacy and confidentiality and safeguard personal, family and community information obtained in the context of a professional relationship (CAN, 2007). The proper management of personal health information is important to our healthcare system. Patients share information with their physician with the expectation it will be use to improve their health and comfort. Information is also generated by laboratories, pharmacies, hospitals, and other stakeholders. In totality, this information comprises the patient’s health record, which may be segmented in physically separate locations under the supervision of several different health care providers (McAllister, Mike. 2006).
With the transition from paper to electronic records it is imperative we address the privacy, confidentiality, security and trust issues that may arise. ‘An EHR would give authorized providers rapid access to their patients’ complete, up-to-date medical records, including physician visits, hospital stays, diagnostic tests, prescribed drugs and laboratory tests. It would do so while safeguarding their patient privacy. A network of interoperable EHR systems in Canada will help to improve Canadians’ access to health services, enhance quality of care and patient safety, and make the health care system more efficient’ (Kosseim, 2005, p10). Some believe that EHR can actually enhance privacy protection, improve patient care, enable telehealth, empower citizens through greater control of their own health records and serve as the foundation for an ever-improving information and evidence-based health system (Kosseim, 2005).
It is imperative that enablers are inserted into the process of the framework before specific security solutions can be assessed for remote access to EHRs. This is the most crucial issue for patients and providers, as it will determine who makes the decisions about sharing personal health information, the role of the physician and other providers as custodians of information, and how information on physicians and other providers can and cannot be used. Public discussion is essential on the implications of electronic storage of personal information, practical solutions, and consistent privacy discipline for the health sector, patient control over access to personal health information, adequate consent mechanisms and appropriate access to provider information is obligatory (Canadian Medical Association, 2004).
Canadians want national security, effective law and order, as well as health care services accessible to them and their loved ones in time of need. With the appropriate and accurate investment in electronic health records we can build, earn and sustain the public trust.