UCLA employees fired for looking at Britney Spears' medical records

[Sk8er07]

UCLA workers snooped in Spears' medical records

I can't even believe I am posting this haha . BUT I think it raises an interesting issue. I, for one, have worked in multiple hospitals and have seen/heard medical professionals discussing each others' cases all the time (and not for consultation purposes... more just for kicks). I have also had coworkers look up stuff on the computer that has nothing to do with them or any patient they are working with.

What I am saying, essentially, is that I think it happens every day with regular (non-famous) patients. Has anyone else seen/heard this happen?

Thoughts?

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[Roto]

I currently work in a clinical pharmacy and the HIPPA training I received was pretty stringent. Discussing another persons charts or looking up someone elses records for "kicks" is defintiely a violation. With that said, it happens all the time, as we have seen with the tramp err I mean Britney

 

[TexasTriathlete]

Talking about random people is one thing. Technically, it could be a violation, but nobody will ever know who you're talking about, unless you're an idiot and you give identifying information with your story. With this, these workers are doing is clearly for their own personal amusement, and everybody knows who Britney Spears is, so it is much easier to violate HIPAA.

 

[nlax30]

Not sure I'd want to look at Britney's ANYTHING.....

It happens though, just the celeb cases that get the extra attention.

 

[prionsRbad]

Good, they should have been fired!

 

[t-funk]

Good, they should have been fired!

I agree. Although not exactly the same thing, I just cringed with disgust everytime I heard nurses talking **** about their patients when I volunteered at the hospital.

 

[prionsRbad]

I agree. Although not exactly the same thing, I just cringed with disgust everytime I heard nurses talking **** about their patients when I volunteered at the hospital.

I know, I experienced that too in the hospital I volunteered at. The worst is when doctors and nurses are talking smack about their patients in the elevators, where everyone can obviously hear. Sometimes I want to be like "hey, I'm with the US department of HHS and you are soo busted".

 

[RRTinCO]

Sometimes I want to be like "hey, I'm with the US department of HHS and you are soo busted".

Oh no, the HIPPA police!!

I've seen people axed on more than one occasion for looking at pt information that was not considered pertinent to the person accessing the chart. With the majority of healthcare going to computer charting, big brother is always watching

 

[Porco Rosso]

one of my friend who is in her residency was given a warning for looking up info about a patient. pretty amazing to think that they were able to track each individual resident's responsibilities

it is very tempting since you can access it from any hospital computer. just dont do it

 

[Porco Rosso]

I know, I experienced that too in the hospital I volunteered at. The worst is when doctors and nurses are talking smack about their patients in the elevators, where everyone can obviously hear. Sometimes I want to be like "hey, I'm with the US department of HHS and you are soo busted".

place where i work, in all elevators, there is a big poster warning not to discuss patient information.

 

[Sk8er07]

Good, they should have been fired!

i completely agree. so what i'm saying is, the "regular" people deserve the same secure messures that Britney Spears is getting.

At the hospital I work at right now, everyone has access to pretty much everything, without any real way to track who is looking at what. I just wish there was a way for them to keep track of who is checking what, or block access to those patients that you are not associated with.

And I completely agree with t-funk and prions about doctors and/or nurses talking **** about their patients in front of other people. it happens a lot more than it should in places like the cafeteria and elevators. I am not going to act like I have never said something to a coworker about a patients cra*ppy disposition towards me, but it never involves medical information and I certainly do it behind closed doors...

 

[cuddlepuppy]

at the hospital that i am a resident at, they monitor exactly who accesses a patient's file and i suppose by audit, if someone is found to have accessed a patient's file without being involved in their care directly....they're fired.

this is actually one of the rules that we were explicitly told of when we started.

patient information is very private, and should remain that way. although, my hospital does get a lot of VIPs. i'm sure those patient files are constantly monitored.

 

[RN2DO]

The hospital I work at also audits the electronic medical records. If you are not involved with the patient you may get questioned. They even look at your own medical record...it is a violation to look at your own record. They will question people about why they were in a specific chart...

 

[MossPoh]

HIPPA is pretty tight. I didn't read the article and am just going by what was said here....so my opinion is worth about half as much as a normal opinion. (Those are worth jack normally) You'll hear doctors talk about patients all the time. Generally, as long as they leave off identifying information nothing will happen. What could? For all they know, you could be making it up. It is when you enter the realm of snooping for the sake of snooping or pointing a person out that it really begins to be an issue that I get frustrated with. I have had docs explain a patient's life to me before hand just so I can get a picture of their life and understand what they are going through better. I have had nurses, my mom, dad, and tons of other people go on telling stories about patients. Generally they involve things getting stuck in places they shouldn't go or a psych patient talking about "hitler coming out of [his] penis whenever [he] ejaculates". I don't know that patient's name, age, or anything about him. I think situations such as looking up the information of ANY patient, famous or not, is wrong and should be handled accordingly. Fired, probably not for a first time, but if they get caught again then sure. I can only imagine if a famous person came in to a standard community hospital. EVERYONE would be trying to figure out what is up. It is hard to fight human curiosity sometimes.

 

[RockfordWF]

UCLA workers snooped in Spears' medical records

I can't even believe I am posting this haha . BUT I think it raises an interesting issue. I, for one, have worked in multiple hospitals and have seen/heard medical professionals discussing each others' cases all the time (and not for consultation purposes... more just for kicks). I have also had coworkers look up stuff on the computer that has nothing to do with them or any patient they are working with.

What I am saying, essentially, is that I think it happens every day with regular (non-famous) patients. Has anyone else seen/heard this happen?

Thoughts?

How did these people get caught? How would they know what medical records you looked at?

They probably screwed themselves by bragging about it....

 

[DrMom]

looking at computerized records is easily noted.

 

[RockfordWF]

looking at computerized records is easily noted.

I guess the trick is----don't look at it when you are logged on with your username. It's always easy to find an unattended computer with someone else logged on.

Wouldn't it be funny if one of the people fired from UCLA left themselves logged on at a computer and someone else took a look at those records?

 

[Ilovethemcat]

The same thing happened at UPitt when a high profile NFL player was in the hospital last year. A bunch of people got fired, even some senior employees. Everyone who accesses electronic records is logged in the system. If you dont have a clinical responsibility or IRB approved research reason to access certain medical records, you will be fired on the spot no matter what hospital you work for.

 

[JoeC]

Like others have said, right on!

I hope everyone gets the same treatment in the future.