Matriculating at home school

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No. Ever heard of Hippa? They would be kicked out of school and potentially fave legal action if they do this. You can’t even look yourself up without getting in trouble.
 
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I don’t know the IT side but the searches but every thing you do is recorded. Seriously you don’t have to worry about this...
 
Any clinical research study requires IRB to be submitted, and data is supposed to be scribed off any personal information by proper personnel before ppl have access to it. They fact that you were able to just search it is actually illegal.
 
Any clinical research study requires IRB to be submitted, and data is supposed to be scribed off any personal information by proper personnel before ppl have access to it. They fact that you were able to just search it is actually illegal.
 
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I meant for data collection and data entry. I didn't search anyones name. But I was just thinking how would these violations be caught
Most EHR systems are set up so there is a log of whenever anyone accesses any record. If someone looked at a file they have no reason to be looking at, they would know. Similar to how your ISP has a log of literally every site you go to online because they connect you to them.
 
well, there are only 3 situations that i can think of in which they might see your information:
1) they hack into the system and/or pull up your name (but that is traced, and it is illegal, so they wont be able to do it).
2) If your fit under a potential protocol, but in this case the bioinformatics ppl access the database, scribe all personal info, and the researchers get only the clinical information without any identifying info (at least this is how it is done in my school), so they will have access to your info, but they wont know it is you

3) you do to a doctor and your classmate might be assisting the doctor, but in this case you just tell them that you are not comfortable with it, and they remove your classmate from the team.

so, basically, you will be ok.
 
thank you, this makes me feel much better
BTW i guess it depends on the school, but in my school students go to very specific providers, who are not involved in educational aspects at all, and in my school it is impossible to run into anyone related to academics there (students, residents, etc). To see a professional who is involved in academics (for example, you need to see our top OB ultrasound guy, and he teaches as well) you have to sign a special waiver.
So, schools usually establish routines and protocols that protect students' privacy. So, dont worry
 
I did clinical research at a large institution, I had unrestricted access to patient data for people who signed off to have their information used for clinical research. If they did, I had full access to their names, history, etc. Some of these people were, in fact, med students, well-known figures in the community, etc

However, if they didn't sign off on it and I tried to open their file I would have to "break the glass" and people would be notified immediately. A huge HIPPA violation outside it being an emergency.


Did you sign off your information to be used? Mind you, it wasn't some hidden form amongst forms either, consent was explicitly asked for.
If not, you're perfectly fine OP 😀 If you're extra worried, you can definitely ask your institution.
 
I did clinical research at a large institution, I had unrestricted access to patient data for people who signed off to have their information used for clinical research. If they did, I had full access to their names, history, etc. Some of these people were, in fact, med students, well-known figures in the community, etc

However, if they didn't sign off on it and I tried to open their file I would have to "break the glass" and people would be notified immediately. A huge HIPPA violation outside it being an emergency.


Did you sign off your information to be used? Mind you, it wasn't some hidden form amongst forms either, consent was explicitly asked for.
If not, you're perfectly fine OP 😀 If you're extra worried, you can definitely ask your institution.
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Most EHR systems are set up so there is a log of whenever anyone accesses any record. If someone looked at a file they have no reason to be looking at, they would know. Similar to how your ISP has a log of literally every site you go to online because they connect you to them.

Meh, to be honest unless someone is watching you won't be noticed. How would a third party know if you were "supposed" to be in a chart or not?
 
People get fired for it so I dunno what to say.

Not a guaranteed thing they'll find out, but the record is there.

tru, no question its not worth the risk just so you can get gossip material. I guess my point was that they probably would be able to access it if they were stupid and wanted to play the risk game.

That being said, I think there is a way you can give a "heads up" to your HIPAA people that you want the traffic on your account monitored (like a "VIP").
 
How would they know though? I've worked with EHR's and have been required to search records for my clinical research studies and I can't imagine how one would track search record violations

I mean realistically speaking healthcare people most likely wouldn't be caught for HIPAA violations of opening someone's chart unless the patient was a celebrity, politician, faculty/admin high up, etc versus a student. But the fear of getting caught + serious consequences should deter most people, plus this thing called integrity that all medical students should have
 
Just go somewhere else for healthcare
 
Hey everyone.

I am matriculating at my home school this year and I was wondering if my medical school classmates will be able to see my medical records. I would prefer to keep my medical information confidential. I was wondering if anyone had any insight into this?
I don't think most people, especially students, would consider violating HIPAA to access your medical records considering they might lose their future career because of it. Even more so, I don't think most of your medical classmates will have a desire to access your medical records, even if you happen to have a noticeable medical condition. The most they might do is ask you to your face but I don't think most of your classmates will be concerned about finding out your secrets as it does not benefit them.
 
Technically, yes they can look you up. But realistically, chances of this happening are very low. No med student would search the names of their classmates one by one!
It's a medical condition, it's not like you committed murder. Relax! Unless there is something you are really uncomfortable ppl finding out.
 
Meh, to be honest unless someone is watching you won't be noticed. How would a third party know if you were "supposed" to be in a chart or not?

When I was working in EPIC your account only had access to files your account was given access to. Anything outside that would flash a giant warning "Do you want to break the glass?" You could do so, and then have access to the file (for use in emergencies), and then an internal group would investigate and ask why the glass was broken.
 
When I was working in EPIC your account only had access to files your account was given access to. Anything outside that would flash a giant warning "Do you want to break the glass?" You could do so, and then have access to the file (for use in emergencies), and then an internal group would investigate and ask why the glass was broken.

Can confirm, also worked with EPIC. Someone had broken the glass 'accidentally' in the department I worked in and it was treated rather seriously, they ended up losing EMR access.
 
When I was working in EPIC your account only had access to files your account was given access to. Anything outside that would flash a giant warning "Do you want to break the glass?" You could do so, and then have access to the file (for use in emergencies), and then an internal group would investigate and ask why the glass was broken.

Yeah I can see that. My question is that there are times where I literally just look up at patient my attending asked me to look up. There is no way the EPIC team would know I am working with that attending or if I have any business looking the patient up. I have never been asked about it in my years of scribing or as a student.
 
4+ year clinical research coordinator here: every time any account accesses any record in the EMR, it is logged in that patient's "relationships" tab. At least at our institution, there actually are people in IT whom query these things.

No one is going to risk their medical education, fees, jail time, and destroy their career in medicine to look at your medical records. Not only are there people who query EMR interactions, the moment they mention it in conversation in gossip, they've exposed themselves for breaking the law, and in all likelihood would be reported by whomever with they're speaking.
 
I’d fear looking at my own record, can’t imagine the guts/idiocy it would take to look up a classmate on purpose.

Also, if it’s psych related, it has a whole different layer of “security” that would probably pretty quickly get someone caught if that’s the concern. (Maybe it’s more of a fear thing than a highly audited system, but I don’t wanna “break the glass” for anyone I’m not directly caring for)

I’ve run into students in the clinical environment. I left as soon as I knew and didn’t follow the rest of the encounter. I assume everyone else would do the same
 
I mean realistically speaking healthcare people most likely wouldn't be caught for HIPAA violations of opening someone's chart unless the patient was a celebrity, politician, faculty/admin high up, etc versus a student. But the fear of getting caught + serious consequences should deter most people, plus this thing called integrity that all medical students should have
At my hospital, unauthorized access results in an immediate investigation.
 
Most EHR systems are set up so there is a log of whenever anyone accesses any record. If someone looked at a file they have no reason to be looking at, they would know. Similar to how your ISP has a log of literally every site you go to online because they connect you to them.

“Similar to how your ISP has a log of literally every site you go to online because they connect you to them.”

But clearing your browsing history gets rid of all this, right?

😕
 
tru, no question its not worth the risk just so you can get gossip material. I guess my point was that they probably would be able to access it if they were stupid and wanted to play the risk game.

That being said, I think there is a way you can give a "heads up" to your HIPAA people that you want the traffic on your account monitored (like a "VIP").

There are a few threads on here where people said they got in trouble for accessing charts they “weren’t supposed to” and were charged with a hipaa violation. I’m guessing it logs who accesses which chart. Not sure if it flags people or if those logs are just audited, but clearly they are monitoring it.
 
ohdamn....

Yeah, incognito mode and the like just prevents it from locally storing in your browser. Honestly, just treat the internet like you're always being watched but also don't worry too much about it you're probably not doing anything outright illegal.
 
even if you’re in private browsing?
Your ISP is like a pipe. Your internet access has to flow through it. There's no way around that. If you use a VPN you can connect to an additional thing that will prevent your ISP from knowing your end destinations.
 
At my institution, if you are an employee there you can request a report of everyone who has accessed your record. You can also specifically protect your record if you want (i.e. break the glass). And most psych records are automatically protected.

There are plenty of things to worry about in the world. This is not one of them.
 
Trust me, I would NOT worry about this. I have worked in a hospital for a decade. They know when people start snooping around....and they fire those people, no warnings. In this case, that classmate would no longer be a classmate because they will get terminated. HIPPA is extremely serious business....and they have powerful systems to detect unauthorized access of heath records.
 
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