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When it seems as though nearly everyone is on Facebook, MySpace, or other social networking sites, you can be assured that many of your employees are online chatting about everything under the sun including what happened at work that day. For health care employees, that can lead to a serious breach of privacy if they pass on protected health information.
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The popularity of social networking sites can be helpful when it comes to screening new employees and seeing what current employees are saying on the Internet, says Jeffrey M. Pincus, JD, a partner with the law firm of Lewis Johs in Melville, NY. More companies are searching for a job applicant's online presence as a way to investigate his or her background, he says.
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The best way to deal with the issue of hospital employees snooping in patient records and spreading private information may be with a contract and a specific policy about blogging or social networking, suggest two experts.
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At Virginia Mason Medical Center (VMMC) in Seattle, staff are not only encouraged to speak up when they see errors or deficiencies that could harm a patient, they are required to do so. A patient safety alert (PSA) system obligates anyone seeing a dangerous situation to report it immediately, which then prompts an investigation.
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With hospitals all over the country realizing that there is a benefit in having the surgical team pause, take a breath, and double-check that everything is in order before proceeding, a hospital in Washington has formalized that process even more by using a checklist that the team can go through before starting the procedure. The simple procedure can have a major impact on patient safety, the hospital reports.
