Medical Confidentiality in Nursing (62695)
Medical confidentiality is a concern as old as the practice of medicine itself. The Hippocratic oath, which new medical school graduates around the world must swear
to uphold, states ôwhatever in connection with my professional practice, or not in connection with it, I see or hear in the life of men, which ought not to be spoken
of abroad, I will not divulge as reckoning that all such should be kept secretö(Thirumoorthy, T. 2001).
The essence of medical confidentiality is the non-disclosure of personal information gathered in the course of the practice of medicine. Since medical practitioners deal with the most intimate physical and mental data concerning the people they treat, it is not hard to understand why patients would not want potentially embarrassing facts or conditions divulged to others without their consent. Furthermore, the information may also be used to persecute, discriminate against, or harm the individual involved
- especially if they suffer from a hot button disease like HIV/AIDS.
One of the best ways to show your professionalism as a nurse is by demonstrating your commitment to confidentiality and respect for the privacy of personal or professional
information in your school environment. It is considered such a fundamental right that most countries in the world, and all of the United States of America have laws that protect the confidentiality of a patientÆs medical information.
ôEvery state and territory provides statutory protection for some types of personal health data maintained by a government agency. Forty-nine states and territories
reported protection for general public health data, forty-two specifically protect communicable disease data, and forty-two specifically protect sexually transmitted disease dataö (Gostin, L.O. 2005).
But the patientÆs right to keeping their medical records private is, like most rights, not absolute...