How to dispose papers with patient info?

[caulfield830]

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Hi I just finished my elective rotation in US and I'm wondering what should I do with all the papers that have piled up in my room...
They are patient lists, patient notes I wrote etc.
I'm from another country and I usually disposed it in a trash can in the hospital.(without any destruction..)
I thought of asking this question to clerkship coordinator but completely forgot and it's Sunday.
I'd like to know what you guys(US med students) do with those papers at the end of rotation since US people seem to be more sensitive with privacy issues. Thanks for help!

 

[sendwich]

usually, there are bins in the hospital for this. they get sent somewhere and are eventually shreded. or an alternative is if you have a shredder at home, that works too.

 

[Zweisamkeit]

Shred them with a shredder machine. My school has one so sometimes I'll drop by and shred them in that manner. Otherwise in the hospital there are bins specifically for the discard of papers that have patient info on them. Those papers are eventually taken to a shredder as well.

Maybe you can find a library with a shredder?

 

[ucsfstudents]

If you go back to the hospital, you can ask any of the staff and they should be able to direct you to the location of the nearest secure trash bin. If you can't go back, just use a shredder.

Good luck!

 

[45408]

I throw them in the "confidential paper" bins at whatever hospital I'm at. If it's just a few sheets of paper, I shred them with my own shredder at home.

 

[radtacular]

Like other people have said you can either dump it in one of the confidential boxes, or if you have a giant pile of confidential stuff sitting at home and would feel like a jackass lugging this to the hospital you should crosscut shred all the stuff yourself.
Paper shredders are pretty cheap and you can use it to shred your own sensitive financial stuff too so you might as well just buy one. The cheaper ones overheat fairly easily though so it might be worth investing in a slightly nicer unit, but if you shop around a good unit can be had for under $50 (check the big wholesale stores since they tend to carry less cruddy units for cheap-try to find a unit that doesn't say that it'll overheat if used for 2 minutes, most of the really really cheap ones you see on sale at Staples or Office Depot overheat really easily).
Also you'll find that it's so fun to shred stuff you'll end up shredding random crap just for kicks.

 

[FutureSurg]

I thought it's the law for all hospitals to have a confidential bin for such documents. If it's a clinic, ask if they have a paper shredder.