interview question!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[meomeo123]

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Hi guys, for the pharmacy school interview, can anyone suggest an idea how to answer this question "If a friend of yours started dating a patient that you knew to be HIV positive. What would you do" I know a pharmacist is not allowed to reveal a patient's info to others so how can i help my friend. Thanks for the respond

 

[jerbearox]

Hi guys, for the pharmacy school interview, can anyone suggest an idea how to answer this question "If a friend of yours started dating a patient that you knew to be HIV positive. What would you do" I know a pharmacist is not allowed to reveal a patient's info to others so how can i help my friend. Thanks for the respond

i wouldn't do anything. we are all adults here and can make our own decisions. i would give the same advice to my friend regardless of who he or she is dating, HIV+ or not, to simply be smart and safe. one can only hope that the person they are dating has the decency to disclose such information.

 

[Corpseman]

Hi guys, for the pharmacy school interview, can anyone suggest an idea how to answer this question "If a friend of yours started dating a patient that you knew to be HIV positive. What would you do" I know a pharmacist is not allowed to reveal a patient's info to others so how can i help my friend. Thanks for the respond

That is a very dumb question. I really hope that was not asked in an actual interview.

 

[bw6]

That is a very dumb question. I really hope that was not asked in an actual interview.

It was not asked as a question during my interview, but when I interviewed at UB they had us do a group exercise with a very similar situation.

It is not dumb in my opinion. Patient confidentiality is pretty important. I hope you know what HIPAA is by now.. Not a difficult question, just say anything that doesn't violate HIPAA. That is all they are looking for.

 

[Corpseman]

It was not asked as a question during my interview, but when I interviewed at UB they had us do a group exercise with a very similar situation.

It is not dumb in my opinion. Patient confidentiality is pretty important. I hope you know what HIPAA is by now.. Not a difficult question, just say anything that doesn't violate HIPAA. That is all they are looking for.

"If a friend of yours started dating a patient that you knew to be HIV positive. What would you do"

It does not say your patient....just a patient. It could be the friend's patient and you just happened to know that they were HIV positive due to your relationship with the patient (maybe they are your brother or sister, etc.).

Poorly worded question.

 

[deleted205891]

In real life, would you actually not tell your friend? Seriously? What kind of a friend are you?

I would tell my friend about the HIV...What if the friend's partner doesn't tell him/her? I think having someone not infected with HIV is more important than a confidentiality violation.

I know it's a prepharm question, but still, you gotta ask yourself, what's more important. Of course talking to the patient and getting them to tell your friend would be even better though.

 

[bw6]

"If a friend of yours started dating a patient that you knew to be HIV positive. What would you do"

It does not say your patient....just a patient. It could be the friend's patient and you just happened to know that they were HIV positive due to your relationship with the patient (maybe they are your brother or sister, etc.).

Poorly worded question.

And you are hearing it second-hand, anonymously, and online. Do you think that is word for word how they would lay out the hypothetical situation.. come on, let's be real. You knew what he was getting at and it clearly implies that it is your patient.

To the other post - I see where you are coming from about telling your friend. It is a violation of medical ethics to disclose that information, but it is a violation of personal ethics not to let your friend know. That is why I think it is a good question (yes, yes, yes - if worded properly). The only way I can see it ending well is to somehow convince the patient to inform your friend.

Unfortunately, they have no legal obligation to tell your friend whereas you have a legal obligation NOT to tell your friend. If you told your friend and someone found out, you would lose your job at best and lose your license at worst.

I would try to convince them to tell my friend and then (somehow without violating HIPAA) suggest to my friend that he and any new partners should be tested for STDs (or VDs or STIs or whatever term we are supposed to use these days). Lastly, I would inform my manager of the conflict of interest and have another pharmacist cover that patient. In this way, you do not violate HIPAA, help your friend to the best of your legally-limited abilities, and cover your ass by telling your manager and getting another pharmacist to work with that patient.

There is a lot to it, that is why this is a frequently used scenario for pharmacy students to be. 🙄

 

[meomeo123]

And you are hearing it second-hand, anonymously, and online. Do you think that is word for word how they would lay out the hypothetical situation.. come on, let's be real. You knew what he was getting at and it clearly implies that it is your patient.

To the other post - I see where you are coming from about telling your friend. It is a violation of medical ethics to disclose that information, but it is a violation of personal ethics not to let your friend know. That is why I think it is a good question (yes, yes, yes - if worded properly). The only way I can see it ending well is to somehow convince the patient to inform your friend.

Unfortunately, they have no legal obligation to tell your friend whereas you have a legal obligation NOT to tell your friend. If you told your friend and someone found out, you would lose your job at best and lose your license at worst.

I would try to convince them to tell my friend and then (somehow without violating HIPAA) suggest to my friend that he and any new partners should be tested for STDs (or VDs or STIs or whatever term we are supposed to use these days). Lastly, I would inform my manager of the conflict of interest and have another pharmacist cover that patient. In this way, you do not violate HIPAA, help your friend to the best of your legally-limited abilities, and cover your ass by telling your manager and getting another pharmacist to work with that patient.

There is a lot to it, that is why this is a frequently used scenario for pharmacy students to be. 🙄

thanks so much for all the respond, I think i know how to answer this question wisely now...thanksssssssss

 

[Pojman]

I think I have come up with the best answer for this interview question.

First off, I would acknowledge that everyone involved is an adult. As an adult, intimate relations is simply not something that should be casually discussed. Therefore, I rarely if ever have a conversation with someone about their intimate relationships.

As adults, it is all of our individual responsibilities to manage our lives (specifically our sexual relationships) in a responsible way. This means, it is all of our personal responsibilites to make sure that we are making responsible decisions when it comes to who we decide to be intimate with. So - for these reasons, I simply would not get involved with this couple with the confidence that they, as adults, are making the most responsible decisions possible about their intimate relationships.

This protects everyone, and it puts the ball in the couples court.. If this situation involved children, I think it would be an entirely different story.

Another avenue would be to say that if you felt compelled to break your ethical code pertaining to HIPPA issues - you would contact your companies ethics compliance hotline, which is usually a direct link to your HR department, and seek a more creative solution to the problem with the assistance of your companies HR and legal department.

 

[BidingMyTime]

Kind of a lame question, since the right answer is so obvious. I guess the place just wants to weed out anyone who is willing to break patient confidentiality....but why worry about that in an in interview where only a complete idiot would give the wrong answer. Better to address these situations in the mandatory HIPAA training, to make sure students/employees have an idea how to handle these situations.

My answer would be, I would say nothing as my friend is an educated adult who is capable of deciding his/her own activities and risk managament (I might add if there was any question as to my friends education, say the situation involved high school students, then I would talk with my friend about disease transmission and risk management (ie "safe sex")

 

[david05]

I do know about HIPAA, but can we release the patients info if we know they are going to harm others? If they transmit the disease to our friend, do we consider this harmful?
If you know one more person getting AIDS, would you close your eyes and do nothing?

 

[BidingMyTime]

I do know about HIPAA, but can we release the patients info if we know they are going to harm others? If they transmit the disease to our friend, do we consider this harmful?
If you know one more person getting AIDS, would you close your eyes and do nothing?

What one might consider being the ethical answer, is not always what the legal answer is.

You didn't ask what should one do ethically, you asked how one should answer the interview question. Even if you personally feel that you would risk violating HIPAA to tell your friend, you should know its illegal, therefore it would be incredibly stupid to admit to this in an interview.

In the situation you gave, you do not have the legal authority to release the information. Your legal options would be to consult the police (not that you would tell the police about the partner being HIV positive, but if your friend is not mentally capable of making decisions and under a guardianship, or is underage, ie a potential statuatory rape issue) or to consult the public health department (I don't think public health departments routinely get involved, but if the partner is promicious and not being honest about his/her HIV status, then possibly the health department would see it as a public health issue and get involved.)

Personally, I don't consider it my responsibility to tell a mentally capable adult what they should be doing. If my friend is an adult and educated enough to know about disease transmission and safe sex, then I do not feel I have any responsibility to tell them their partner has HIV, especially considering it would be illegally in the situation given, for me to do so. If my friend does not know about disease transmission or safe sex, then I would certainly try to educate them....after that, its their decision.
For all I know, my friend has already discussed the situation with his/her partner and is aware of the partner's HIV status, and has decided to have a relationship with this person anyway. People DO make this choice-and probably not as uncommonly as you might think.

 

[N974]

What one might consider being the ethical answer, is not always what the legal answer is.

You didn't ask what should one do ethically, you asked how one should answer the interview question. Even if you personally feel that you would risk violating HIPAA to tell your friend, you should know its illegal, therefore it would be incredibly stupid to admit to this in an interview.

In the situation you gave, you do not have the legal authority to release the information. Your legal options would be to consult the police (not that you would tell the police about the partner being HIV positive, but if your friend is not mentally capable of making decisions and under a guardianship, or is underage, ie a potential statuatory rape issue) or to consult the public health department (I don't think public health departments routinely get involved, but if the partner is promicious and not being honest about his/her HIV status, then possibly the health department would see it as a public health issue and get involved.)

Personally, I don't consider it my responsibility to tell a mentally capable adult what they should be doing. If my friend is an adult and educated enough to know about disease transmission and safe sex, then I do not feel I have any responsibility to tell them their partner has HIV, especially considering it would be illegally in the situation given, for me to do so. If my friend does not know about disease transmission or safe sex, then I would certainly try to educate them....after that, its their decision.
For all I know, my friend has already discussed the situation with his/her partner and is aware of the partner's HIV status, and has decided to have a relationship with this person anyway. People DO make this choice-and probably not as uncommonly as you might think.

Exactly....this isn't a difficult interview question, and actually is a great question to impress the interviewers.

 

[Just Because]

Hi guys, for the pharmacy school interview, can anyone suggest an idea how to answer this question "If a friend of yours started dating a patient that you knew to be HIV positive. What would you do" I know a pharmacist is not allowed to reveal a patient's info to others so how can i help my friend. Thanks for the respond

there are ways of saying this without compromising HIPPA... nevertheless, I know a question came up about "What would you do if you caught your friend cheating on an exam?" Schools that I applied too loved to ask this question.

Anyways, My advice is to tell them what they want to hear. Also what people forget is that they can Council the Pt to advise their partners that they need to tell their partner that they are HIV positive... otherwise it's comparable to attempted murder... especially because the patient is aware that they are HIV positive.

 

[Just Because]

correction its HIPAA... my bad... typing fast lol