Are a schools residency rankings public?

[notEinstein]

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Sorry if this is a stupid question.

I work for a hospital that is combined with a Top 30 medical school, and I somehow stumbled upon a rank list of all resident applications that the hospital has received in the past - including the applicants step status/score, interviewer rankings, undergraduate college, how they’re ranked, etc.

Did I stumble upon something I shouldn’t have seen? Or is this public knowledge for transparency? Kind-of afraid to ask (don’t want to get in trouble if I wasn’t supposed to see it).

 

[Apollyon]

That sounds like an error. None of that should be public.

Now, how you got to it is the question. That would count as a privacy breach (not HIPAA, because they're not patients), if you shouldn't have opened it. If it was truly accidental, then you have no worry about telling someone and getting in trouble. However, if nefarious is your bent, I don't know what to tell you.

 

[notEinstein]

That sounds like an error. None of that should be public.

Now, how you got to it is the question. That would count as a privacy breach (not HIPAA, because they're not patients), if you shouldn't have opened it. If it was truly accidental, then you have no worry about telling someone and getting in trouble. However, if nefarious is your bent, I don't know what to tell you.

It was a link that said Residency Positions or something along those lines. I clicked it, thinking it would open up a list of all of our residents. I had no clue it was going to open a massive chart with every single interviewer, applicant, scores, reviews, etc. Not in my wildest dreams would I think any of that would not be behind a password.

I know for sure I have no chance at this program now though.

 

[Apollyon]

Maybe that's just as well. There are many programs. But, I would tell someone post haste.

 

[dozitgetchahi]

Sorry if this is a stupid question.

I work for a hospital that is combined with a Top 30 medical school, and I somehow stumbled upon a rank list of all resident applications that the hospital has received in the past - including the applicants step status/score, interviewer rankings, undergraduate college, how they’re ranked, etc.

Did I stumble upon something I shouldn’t have seen? Or is this public knowledge for transparency? Kind-of afraid to ask (don’t want to get in trouble if I wasn’t supposed to see it).

So was this out on the residency program’s website or something?

 

[notEinstein]

So was this out on the residency program’s website or something?

No its on the hospitals internal hub.

 

[gutonc]

No its on the hospitals internal hub.

Then, assuming you really did get there innocently and randomly, you need to let the PD and PC (if it's just one residency) or the DIO (if it's the entire institution's rank lists across specialties) know it's out there blowing in the breeze and it needs to get moved to a secure location.

 

[dozitgetchahi]

I disagree. The resident or medical student could get blamed. Your career could be over if you are the target of the wrath of the medical school or department. If it is the fault of one secretary, her husband may come to kill you if she is fired.** Particularly if the flaw is difficult to locate, nobody else may ever see it. It's not like patient care is at stake. If patients' lives are at stake, that's different.

If it's reported anonymously, IT techies are good at tracking you down. With computers, nothing is anonymous if they dig deep enough. Do NOT look at it ever again.

**Don't laugh. A young resident was once shot and killed (not a robbery). A recently graduated resident was once killed by a jealous husband.

Yeah I’m more inclined to agree with this.

I think the best thing for the OP to do is never view this material again and keep his/her mouth shut. Reporting this is unlikely to go well.

 

[onamission!]

OP, someone made a mistake here, and you have no way of knowing why. Who knows, it might've been intentional or posted for some malicious reason. Either way, it has nothing to do with you, if you truly just randomly happened to stumble upon it. I agree to never access that material again and to not get involved any further. Do not try to fix problems that are not yours as it could lead to consequences you have no way of knowing.

 

[Apollyon]

On the intranet means access is traced, which means they can pin it on the OP. This is a case where coming forward would be more optimal than hoping no one looks, where, if they do, the result would likely be termination.

 

[LucidSplash]

On the intranet means access is traced, which means they can pin it on the OP. This is a case where coming forward would be more optimal than hoping no one looks, where, if they do, the result would likely be termination.

This exactly. A good time to remember that pretty much every click you make on a large hospital or corporate network is recorded. Unclear to me why OP was randomly opening files and/or links they found on the intranet that did not belong to them. This sounds like being nosy and finding something during the process of being nosy. Otherwise why would you open up a file that didn’t belong to you? Hard to call this a true “accident” or “stumbled on.”

OP and everyone else, in the future observe the basic tenet: Don’t Snoop.

 

[notEinstein]

I disagree. The resident or medical student could get blamed. Your career could be over if you are the target of the wrath of the medical school or department. If it is the fault of one secretary, her husband may come to kill you if she is fired.** Particularly if the flaw is difficult to locate, nobody else may ever see it. It's not like patient care is at stake. If patients' lives are at stake, that's different.

If it's reported anonymously, IT techies are good at tracking you down. With computers, nothing is anonymous if they dig deep enough. Do NOT look at it ever again.

**Don't laugh. A young resident was once shot and killed (not a robbery). A recently graduated resident was once killed by a jealous husband.

So I went back to the same link today (just to see if it is fixed) and it’s now behind a username and password with a confidential notice on top. I never said anything because, as you stated, I didn’t want any wrath cast upon me. But maybe someone else did?

edit; I wish I saw the advice about not trying again before I just tried again 🤦🏻‍♀️

 

[notEinstein]

This exactly. A good time to remember that pretty much every click you make on a large hospital or corporate network is recorded. Unclear to me why OP was randomly opening files and/or links they found on the intranet that did not belong to them. This sounds like being nosy and finding something during the process of being nosy. Otherwise why would you open up a file that didn’t belong to you? Hard to call this a true “accident” or “stumbled on.”

OP and everyone else, in the future observe the basic tenet: Don’t Snoop.

Ok I understand this viewpoint and I’m not saying you’re wrong (that I should have minded my own business), but I just started last month and i’m trying to learn the system and their interhub and even their customized Epic configuration. In other words, i’ve been clicking on all sorts of links over the past month to learn where everything leads. That was just one of about a thousand links i’ve clicked. It was also the only one that led me to somewhere I shouldn’t have been (apparently). How was I supposed to know?

 

[LucidSplash]

Ok I understand this viewpoint and I’m not saying you’re wrong (that I should have minded my own business), but I just started last month and i’m trying to learn the system and their interhub and even their customized Epic configuration. In other words, i’ve been clicking on all sorts of links over the past month to learn where everything leads. That was just one of about a thousand links i’ve clicked. It was also the only one that led me to somewhere I shouldn’t have been (apparently). How was I supposed to know?

Were you looking for something specifically related to your job, and the link you needed could plausibly have been mistaken for this link? OK, that’s an honest mistake.

Just randomly clicking links to see what happens? Not necessary and qualifies as “why were you doing that anyway?”

 

[hippieskippy]

Then, assuming you really did get there innocently and randomly, you need to let the PD and PC (if it's just one residency) or the DIO (if it's the entire institution's rank lists across specialties) know it's out there blowing in the breeze and it needs to get moved to a secure location.

This would be naive imo

Nobody in a position of authority likes being corrected by someone they view as "beneath" them.

Hard agree with @Gonio5

 

[dozitgetchahi]

Ok I understand this viewpoint and I’m not saying you’re wrong (that I should have minded my own business), but I just started last month and i’m trying to learn the system and their interhub and even their customized Epic configuration. In other words, i’ve been clicking on all sorts of links over the past month to learn where everything leads. That was just one of about a thousand links i’ve clicked. It was also the only one that led me to somewhere I shouldn’t have been (apparently). How was I supposed to know?

Look, it’s one thing to go exploring within Epic (regarding *your own patients*) to try to figure out how to effectively use the EMR etc.

But I would not go randomly clicking around a hospital intranet just to “see where things lead”. That’s a great way to get yourself into a world of problems.