Homework Question on Specialized Health Records
- Pretend you have recently been promoted to the manager of specialized health records position for your organization. Your department in primarily responsible for maintaining patient records related to HIV/AIDS diagnoses and other highly sensitive health information. Upon taking the lead of the department, you have noticed several incidences of employees improperly storing sensitive data and/or releasing information to the wrong patients.
- Many of your employees transferred from the general records department, so they aren’t familiar with the requirements for specialized records. Given the consequences of their actions, you realize that an in-service is imminent.
- Discuss the components of your presentation and be sure to include the following:
- What are the primary distinctions between specialized patient records and general health records?
- Why is HIV/AIDS testing information, results, and diagnoses particularly sensitive?
- What are the legal ramifications of HIV/AIDS information being released to the wrong patient, or to employees without a “need to know”?
Homework Answer on Specialized Health Records
Medical records denote papers or electronic data that are written on an account of a patient’s medical history (Kahn, Aulakh, & Bosworth, 2009). The information regards patients’ diagnosis, treatment, response to treatment, along with discharge and approval notes. This information is classified as a highly sensitive and general record. The case at hand concerns the release of sensitive information like HIV/AIDS diagnoses to the wrong patients by employees.
My thought about an in-service program aims at sensitizing employees on the need to uphold integrity and confidentiality. This would help employees appreciate the various ethical standards in dealing with specialized patients records. A specialized patient record refers to extra private data including HIV status information, substance abuse, and mental records (McWay, 2013). These records have broad release procedures that include thorough recipient scrutiny to ensure discretion. General health records refer to hospital account of the daily happenings, which amount to sensitive patients’ data (Halamka, Mandl, & Tang, 2008).
The sensitivity of HIV/AIDS testing, outcomes, and diagnoses develops from the need to prevent patients’ stigmatization and encourage examination. A high level of privacy is central to ensuring sound health care to victims, which minimizes trauma and HIV transmission (Myers, Frieden, Bherwani, & Henning, 2008). Thus, employees’ secrecy gives HIV/AIDS victims’ assurance of continued social working and sustained relationships.