BellaOnline Forums Career Nursing A question

Is a third-year nursing student bound by the new privacy laws? I recently had a severe lung infection and was put on predisone. Due to the predisone, I had a GI bleed which was complicated by a bleeding disorder I have. After a few days in the hospital things were fine. The problem: when I returned to work everybody was gossiping about me having lung cancer because the shift manager, who is a third-year nursing student-about to start her last year, had said all it could be was lung cancer. This girl had no idea of my current or past history, but spoke as though she did. She diagnosed me without knowing anything, causing all kinds of rumors in a small community. As a manager, it was unprofessional, but as a nurse, I feel it is unexcuseable. What, if anything, can or should I do about it? I have within the past few years lost my dad and my aunt to lung cancer, so I may be just over-reacting, but I am very upset by this. All comments would be appreciated. My company basically said get over it.

if they are working in a professional setting they are bound by HIPPA! She should be censured and possibly even fired for this. She could also not get her licensure if the state board found out about this lapse in judegment and the severity.

As an EMT student (before I was even licensed) I was bound by the privacy rules. If I violated them, I could forfeit my right to a license.

I should clarify at the time she said this stuff she was not working in a medical related job, but is currently a nursing student. I considered reporting it to her school, but since she is not yet a nurse, wasn't sure. I confronted her and now get harrassed by her and the other shift managers to the point I'm looking for new employment. It just doesn't seem right and I can't seem to let it go.

You have absolute right to privacy, just like everyone else! I as a manager of a unit, do not have the right to look up information on patients on my floor unless it directly effects me in some way. Every patient is protected by HIPAA regulations, it does not matter what you do for a profession.
You need to report this to the school and to the hospital thatyou were in, they are bound by HIPAA regulations to follow through and this person probably will be terminated from the school and her position.
Keep me posted on what happens and pease don't just let it go,
Colleen

I decided to write a detailed letter to the DON at her school. As a third-year student, I feel she should already be living and acting according to the code of ethics. While she and her friends feel I am over-reacting and ridicule me at every opportunity, I do not. I believe if she is this way now, she'll only get worse. She is a gossip and is about to have access to priviledged information. Yesterday, her big story for everyone was to make fun of an elderly woman with a bladder control problem she had to deal with while doing her clinicals. I saw no compassion or dignity in the way she talked or cared for this woman. I don't know if anything I do or say will be of any good, but I can't sit idlely by. This is truly a sad situation and weighs heavily on me.

I think you did the right thing. Nursing needs the right kind of person in the profession. It doesn't have any room for lack of compassion o invasion of privacy.

Please keep me posed on the ramifications,
Colleen

Gossips have no place in the medical community.