assistant res. director issue

[annoyedresident]

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I just got an e-mail CC'd to higher-ups in my program from my assistant res director who I don't get along with (neither do several other residents). he saw my car in the parking lot and took a pic of a couple exposed papers with patient stickers on it and told me to take care of it, which is fine and long done. But 1. he took pics of the inside of my car, 2. sent it to a couple other people unnecessarily, and 3. the place you could see this was a rear door that was right up against a wall, implying he was snooping around my car.

I find this behavior unprofessional and unnecessarily invasive. There's no point getting into it with this or telling him off, but I'm not sure if I should be doing anything about it other than cleaning out my car. Any advice?

ony thing to add is that the picture itself is blurry, does not reveal patient info, and one is unable to identify the car as my own.

 

[Arcan57]

I just got an e-mail CC'd to higher-ups in my program from my assistant res director who I don't get along with (neither do several other residents). he saw my car in the parking lot and took a pic of a couple exposed papers with patient stickers on it and told me to take care of it, which is fine and long done. But 1. he took pics of the inside of my car, 2. sent it to a couple other people unnecessarily, and 3. the place you could see this was a rear door that was right up against a wall, implying he was snooping around my car.

I find this behavior unprofessional and unnecessarily invasive. There's no point getting into it with this or telling him off, but I'm not sure if I should be doing anything about it other than cleaning out my car. Any advice?

ony thing to add is that the picture itself is blurry, does not reveal patient info, and one is unable to identify the car as my own.

Don't leave HIPAA protected paperwork lying around in plain sight. In terms of the creepy behavior, you don't have clean hands. Since you're in the wrong, it's not likely you'll be able to do anything about it.

 

[Groove]

Was it lame? Yes.

Is it technically a HIPAA violation? Yes.

Correct the issue.

You're not going to get along with every attending, but it's unwise as a resident to become overtly abrasive or downright antagonistic towards ANY attending, much less an assistant residency director. If they wanted to, they could make your life and residency hell on earth. I advice every resident to take my philosophy... residency is all about sucking it up, taking the hits, and keeping your head down, making yourself as little a target as possible. Work hard and try not to give any attending a reason to talk bad about you. You'll be out of the nest and on to brighter days before you know it and it will all be water under the bridge.

 

[Law2Doc]

Don't leave HIPAA protected paperwork lying around in plain sight. In terms of the creepy behavior, you don't have clean hands. Since you're in the wrong, it's not likely you'll be able to do anything about it.

Agreed. It's the squeaky clean guy who can make the argument about what's unprofessional. The person caught red handed cannot.

 

[lowbudget]

Yikes... HIPAA violation, eh? Yea, if all that you got was a slap on the wrist by your assistant program director, you should count lucky stars and blessings.

It could have easily been a nurse, a patient, or an administrator. Everybody knows what a HIPAA violation can do to you... (minimum $10,000 per violation/sticker... and grounds for dismissal.)

HIPAA Violations and Enforcement
http://www.ama-assn.org/ama/pub/phy...ability-act/hipaa-violations-enforcement.page

That said, don't give this a-hole any reason to destroy your life.

 

[Osteoimperfecta]

I just got an e-mail CC'd to higher-ups in my program from my assistant res director who I don't get along with (neither do several other residents). he saw my car in the parking lot and took a pic of a couple exposed papers with patient stickers on it and told me to take care of it, which is fine and long done. But 1. he took pics of the inside of my car, 2. sent it to a couple other people unnecessarily, and 3. the place you could see this was a rear door that was right up against a wall, implying he was snooping around my car.

I find this behavior unprofessional and unnecessarily invasive. There's no point getting into it with this or telling him off, but I'm not sure if I should be doing anything about it other than cleaning out my car. Any advice?

ony thing to add is that the picture itself is blurry, does not reveal patient info, and one is unable to identify the car as my own.

Like someone pointed out, snooping around your car might be unprofessional, but the bigger issue here is unsecured patient records. I would clean my car if I were you, and make sure it does not happen again. There is really no easy way around HIPPA.

 

[HondoCrouch]

Why does this person know what car you drive? Even though youre technically in the wrong here, sounds like this guy is a real ******* and you should handle him very carefully like a poisonous snake.

 

[dragonfly99]

The $10,000 for HIPPA violation is for people who knowingly violate it for reasons of personal gain, etc. They wouldn't fine you 10k for a first offense. Get real. The OP screwed up a little, but tons of people have left a patient list somewhere it shouldn't be at some point in training. Probably everyone. I agree with the advice to let go of all this, but the behavior was definitely to the point of creepiness. Perhaps the hospital has had some problem(s) related to HIPPA in the past, and/or has been threatened with some sort of sanctions. It's sad that an assistant program director would have these types of things as his primary concern, rather than teaching. We have enough bean counter hospital administrators to monitor this other stuff. Not that I disagree with HIPPA, but sometimes it gets carried to the extreme. I mean, I can't even look in my own damn chart b/c it's a HIPPA violation. I can't even give a patient a copy of his labs when he requests one...WTF!

 

[anonperson]

The $10,000 for HIPPA violation is for people who knowingly violate it for reasons of personal gain, etc. They wouldn't fine you 10k for a first offense. Get real. The OP screwed up a little, but tons of people have left a patient list somewhere it shouldn't be at some point in training. Probably everyone. I agree with the advice to let go of all this, but the behavior was definitely to the point of creepiness. Perhaps the hospital has had some problem(s) related to HIPPA in the past, and/or has been threatened with some sort of sanctions. It's sad that an assistant program director would have these types of things as his primary concern, rather than teaching. We have enough bean counter hospital administrators to monitor this other stuff. Not that I disagree with HIPPA, but sometimes it gets carried to the extreme. I mean, I can't even look in my own damn chart b/c it's a HIPPA violation. I can't even give a patient a copy of his labs when he requests one...WTF!

I pretty much agree. The rules concerning this stuff border on ridiculous but they are here to stay.

To the OP: Your assistant residency director sounds like a dbag but they caught you. Nothing much to do or say except stay off his/her radar for as long as possible. To echo the sentiments of the other posts, keep your head down and grind through the bull$hit of residency until you can give them the finger after you're done.

 

[EM_Rebuilder]

I would thank the assitant PD for alerting and educating you to a potential problem. As others have said, patient privacy is a "big deal"....even if its something stupid and cheesy as a sticker in plain site in your car.

I'd rather learn about these things from a PD than from hospital administration, or worse a picture sent to your local newspaper from a parking lot bystander and then forwarded to your hospitals CEO. It happens and you CAN lose your job over something like that...

The whole "PD looking in your car" is a bit weird and maybe eccentric, but in the end, I think this guy is really looking out for you....

 

[Gastrapathy]

I

The whole "PD looking in your car" is a bit weird and maybe eccentric, but in the end, I think this guy is really looking out for you....

I don't. But you are a resident and have no power, so thank him for the feedback and move on. More than likely, the people he sent the email rolled their eyes and a polite, professional response will serve you well.

 

[Law2Doc]

...

The whole "PD looking in your car" is a bit weird and maybe eccentric, but in the end, I think this guy is really looking out for you....

I doubt they are looking out for you, but they are enforcing rules that you have to follow. So follow them and it will become a non-issue. Clean out your car. Be more careful with anything with patient info on it. If the PD wants to skulk around in the garage, that's his business. Your job is to not give him any ammunition against you. At any rate, you got caught dead to rights, so you can't claim a lack of professionalism. That's like a criminal defendant trying to call a cop dirty when they've got the defendant doing a crime on videotape. It really doesn't matter if the cop is dirty -- you aren't the one with the clean hands who anyone is going to take seriously about it.

 

[HondoCrouch]

If he was "looking out for him" he would have discretely told him in person so he could rectify the situation without it becoming a big deal.

The assistant program director is in the wrong too here as he actively viewed and even made photographs of protected health information of patients whose care he was not involved and then went on to distribute it to others who were not involved in the patients care. Big time HIPPA violations. And I sure hope that email was encrypted.

 

[Law2Doc]

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The assistant program director is in the wrong too here as he actively viewed and even made photographs of protected health information of patients whose care he was not involved and then went on to distribute it to others who were not involved in the patients care. Big time HIPPA violations. And I sure hope that email was ecrypted.

LOL - it doesn't work that way. If it did, nobody could ever be caught in a HIPPA violation because anyone who proved the violation would be guilty of a violation, as would any judge involved in overseeing the case, etc. It's not like handling plutonium, where anyone who touches it is radioactive too.

 

[HondoCrouch]

LOL - it doesn't work that way. If it did, nobody could ever be caught in a HIPPA violation because anyone who proved the violation would be guilty of a violation, as would any judge involved in overseeing the case, etc. It's not like handling plutonium, where anyone who touches it is radioactive too.

Taking the pictures was not in any way necessary nor was forwarding the the protected information to others. The end result of the assistant PDs actions was for the patients privacy to be violated when the OPs actions had only resulted in a potential breach of privacy.

The "assistant PD" is not a privileged user as would be a IT security officer or a judge ajudicating a case.

Nevermind that an IT person investigating a HIPPA violation would have the good sense to not email pictures around and if they did all identifying information would be removed.

 

[Buzz Me]

It's a tough example, but HIPAA violations can get you in trouble - your APD probably could have used different methods but at least it won't happen again, right?

 

[Doctor4Life1769]

this is comical.

assoc. PDs having time to snoop and ID resident cars?

agreed with others, though. since it involves pt information, probably not best to rock the boat.