Mentioning a Patient's Name in Personal Statement

[goobears]

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Is it okay to include a patient's first name in your personal statement. I'm not sure how the confidentiality issue works. It would really help me with the flow of it.

What do you think?

 

[TriagePreMed]

Is it okay to include a patient's first name in your personal statement. I'm not sure how the confidentiality issue works. It would really help me with the flow of it.

What do you think?

First name is supposed to be vague enough to qualify, unless that person can then be recognized more easily by other means like you say the date, time, and place it happened, but to be on the safe side I'd write something like "Veronica (named changed for privacy concerns)." Better play it safe than sorry.

 

[AmyAmy]

A first name is fine, as long as there are no other specific identifiers. Though why not change it if you don't feel comfortable?

 

[RunningDiva]

Is it okay to include a patient's first name in your personal statement. I'm not sure how the confidentiality issue works. It would really help me with the flow of it.

What do you think?

I assume you're familiar with HIPAA?

Keep it as "a patient." Or make up a name and say, "Mario, name changed for confidentiality, blah blah blah."

 

[bonsaitree1]

Put something like Patient A or like the above poster said "Veronica (name has been changed for privacy purposes)" although that requires more characters. Definitely shows the adcom that you have common sense and know a thing or two about privacy/confidentiality.

 

[jpgarcia22]

I wouldn't recommend it. There HAS to be a way of getting your point across without doing so. I wouldn't think that mentioning "Joey" instead of just "patient" in your PS would make that much of a difference.

 

[Caesar]

use a pseudonym.

 

[MisterVeil]

Call him Nathaniel B. Cummerbund, Jr, Esq. Make sure you use the full name each time you refer to him.

 

[addo]

use a pseudonym.

like one of the seinfeld aliases....art vandelay, van nostrand, or my favorite H.E. Pennypacker.

 

[ThatQuestionGuy]

I did this and I used an asterisk with a note at the bottom that the name was changed for privacy purposes.

 

[rockaction]

just say "a patient". don't throw in some "Rick (name changed for confidentiality)" because that's cheesy and eats up characters.

 

[Dr Optimistic]

I've seen people just use a letter of a first name. Ex: As I assisted J in getting out of bed... (or Mr. J, Dr. J, Mrs. J)

I dunno but I don't think you should use the real name

 

[wagmanager]

You definitely can't use their real name.HiPAA violation. Use an initial , any identifier eg ssn, name and date of birth etc can't be used.

 

[orthomyxo]

HIPPA says that is a big no no.

And don't put "Jim (name changed for confidentiality)." That sounds wonky and like rockaction said, it will be taking up characters.

 

[mspeedwagon]

I wouldn't waste your characters to state "name changed for confidentiality." Honestly, just create a generic name: Jennifer, Sarah, Mike, John etc. A very generic first name is the way to go. There is no HIPAA violation and the use of a generic name implies that it is changed or that it's generic enough that it cannot be used to identify the patient.

just say "a patient". don't throw in some "Rick (name changed for confidentiality)" because that's cheesy and eats up characters.

 

[FuturaDocta]

"I wouldn't do it. Don't mess with HIPPA. I wouldn't do it."

 

[werd]

use a first name or initials. of course you can't put a patient's full name in your PS. while doctors use patient initials in conferences/presentations, i'd actually recommend a first name for personal statements... it's a little warmer without violating privacy.

 

[MiniMoo]

I used initials only.

 

[LizzyM]

A first name or Mr/Ms/Miss/Mrs. inital is fine. I'd go with a short name like Dan or Ann (fewer characters).

You can write (pseudonym) after the name which is the shortest way I know of to say that the name has been changed. I do know someone who used the first name of disabled child/student in an essay. From the experience section it was easy to see where the student was from (where the applicant had volunteered). The student's mother happened to be on the adcom -- 😱 She chose not to make a decision about the applicant and she wasn't upset by it but wow -- small world.

 

[Longshanks]

I assume you're familiar with HIPAA?

Keep it as "a patient." Or make up a name and say, "Mario, name changed for confidentiality, blah blah blah."

Don't waste characters. Just say Mr. G/ Ms. A...etc

 

[Zorrix]

A first name or Mr/Ms/Miss/Mrs. inital is fine. I'd go with a short name like Dan or Ann (fewer characters).

You can write (pseudonym) after the name which is the shortest way I know of to say that the name has been changed. I do know someone who used the first name of disabled child/student in an essay. From the experience section it was easy to see where the student was from (where the applicant had volunteered). The student's mother happened to be on the adcom -- 😱 She chose not to make a decision about the applicant and she wasn't upset by it but wow -- small world.

😱😱

 

[MossPoh]

A first name or Mr/Ms/Miss/Mrs. inital is fine. I'd go with a short name like Dan or Ann (fewer characters).

You can write (pseudonym) after the name which is the shortest way I know of to say that the name has been changed. I do know someone who used the first name of disabled child/student in an essay. From the experience section it was easy to see where the student was from (where the applicant had volunteered). The student's mother happened to be on the adcom -- 😱 She chose not to make a decision about the applicant and she wasn't upset by it but wow -- small world.

Typed by the fingers of SDN pre-allo's voice of reason.