Read the following 10 scenarios and questions and choose the most appropriate responses. The program will provide you with the correct response and an explanation for each question.

On completion of all 10 scenarios, please complete the registration information form and then click FINISH to get you to the page that will allow you to print, review, and sign the Privacy and Confidentiality Agreement.

Scenarios

1. The police call your unit requesting information about a patient. They describe the injuries that an individual may have sustained, but they do not have the person’s name or physical description. The nursing staff is aware of an individual that is consistent with this police description.
   
   Can you release the name of the patient?
   
   
   1. Yes - It is unlawful to obstruct a criminal investigation.
   2. No - Releasing information in this context requires the patient's consent or a police warrant.
   
   
2. On route to Radiology, a patient being transported in a wheelchair is asked to hold their health record, while the porter pushes the wheelchair. The patient asks if he can read the record.
   
   How do you respond?
   
   
   1. You tell the patient that he has the right to access his information, but that there is a process to do so. He should let his nurse or physician know of his wishes. A hospital designate (e.g., member of health team or Health Record Services personnel) must be present when he reviews the record to explain the documentation and to ensure the security of the record. Staff can arrange a time and place to do so that is convenient for both the patient and the unit.
   2. You tell the patient that the record belongs to the hospital and is confidential. He is not allowed to read it.
   
   
3. A unit clerk wants to discuss the consequences of premarital sex with his sixteen-year old son. He wants to emphasize his point. He knows that one of his classmates was in the sexually transmitted disease clinic where he works.
   
   What can he say?
   
   
   1. The clerk can say nothing about the patient even being at the clinic.
   2. The clerk can divulge the friend's name and condition.
   
   
4. You are standing in line in the hospital cafeteria and two staff members are discussing a patient they are caring for on their unit. They call the patient by name and discuss the diagnosis and the gravity of the patient's prognosis.
   
   How do you react?
   
   
   1. Do nothing. Health care providers are stressed for time. They need to leverage whatever time they have to provide the best care for their patients.
   2. Remind staff that they cannot discuss confidential information in public areas.
      
      
5. You are organizing a curling team to compete with other teams in your community. You want a 'ringer.' You recall a former patient who mentioned she was quite good at the sport, but had not played since moving to your community. You access her telephone number from her electronic health record. You make certain to ignore all the other information.
   
   Choose the description that best describes your actions:
   
   
   1. Telephone numbers are public information. You simply accessed it in a different manner.
   2. You breached the patient's privacy.
   
   
6. A staff member is suddenly admitted for emergency treatment. The next day you take a call from a family member who informs you that the coworker will not be in for a while, due to an unspecified illness.
   
   As a colleague, you are very concerned about his condition. You decide to access your coworker’s electronic patient record to determine the cause.
   
   Choose the best description for your behaviour:
   
   
   1. You have the right to access the coworker's electronic patient record (EPR) because you have access to the EPR system.
   2. You breached the patient's right to privacy and confidentiality.
      
      
7. A hearing aid manufacturer contacts the Ear, Nose and Throat clinic where you work. They ask you for a list of recent patients so that they can contact them about a new product line.
   
   Choose your reaction:
   
   
   1. You provide the information.
   2. You don't provide the information.

   
   
8. You are asked to deliver patient records to a clinic before it opens at 0700 hr. The records are for patients being seen that day. You arrive to find that no one else has yet arrived - the doors are locked. A makeshift sign on the door indicates that clinic is now opening at 0800 hr. because of an unforeseen event. No one is in the clinic and you have multiple calls to respond to after this delivery.
   
   What do you do?
   
   
   1. Leave the charts in the hall outside the clinic for staff to pick up when they arrive.
   2. Take the charts back to Health Record Services and ask them to arrange a delivery for 0800 hr.

   
   
9. A patient has the right to control the collection, use and/or disclosure of his or her own personal information, unless the collection, use and/or disclosure is required or permitted by law.
   
   
   1. True
   2. False
      
   
   
10. As a health care professional, I have access to electronic patient records. I can access any record I want so long as I keep the information confidential.
    
    
    1. True
    2. False